West Point
by Steph Malfoy
Summary: AU.Amy knows that involving herself with West Point boy Ty Baldwin is a very bad idea,but involve herself she does.She knows that she loves him.But what she doesn't know is how much her heart can take when he is called overseas.UPDATED
1. Summary

**Authors Note**

Hey guys, this is a new story by me, obviously.

So now, I am going to write a story incorporating things that I like with things that you guys like to read, i.e.: Amy and Ty romance. I am going to bite down on my tongue and give you a good romance story. Amy's life is the same as in the books except her mother and father are both alive and married. They still have Heartland though and all the Heartland stuff is accurate, except that Ty hasn't been there. Ty is the character that I am "recreating" in a sense. You'll learn all about him. But, here is a basic rundown of the characters to avoid confusion:

**Amy Fleming: **Eighteen-years-old and just about to start her freshman year at New York Tech (a college that I have made up because the closest college is West Point is a Catholic school and I don't think Amy would go there. In all respects, New York Tech is Virginia Tech and is about five miles from West Point). She is majoring in pre-vet and business management. Her family owns Heartland, the horse rehabilitation center and her father is the acclaimed show jumper, Tim Fleming. Her elder sister, Lou Fleming, worked in New York City but had returned to Heartland. She fell in love with and married Heartland's vet, Scott Trewin, and they are expecting their first child.

**Ty Baldwin: **Twenty-two-years-old. He has just returned from a summer participating in active military service around the world and is about to start his senior year at The United States Military Academy, West Point. His father is Brad Baldwin, Dean (the head) of West Point Military Academy. Ty attended George Washington Military Academy (a school that I have made up) from the time he was ten-years-old till he was eighteen. In all respects, academic and physical, Ty is the ideal student. He's at the top of all of his classes and a First Captain (I'll explain later).

That's basically a brief overview of the two main characters. Sorry if it was confusing, all will be explained in due time. Also, not all of my references will be completely accurate and, I may be making up some of my own things in regard to West Point, but I will be as accurate as possible.

Now, I will give a short, rough summary of the story "West Point".

**Summary: **_AU. _Amy Fleming is all set and ready to start her first year of New York Tech, excited about the pre-veterinary program that she has enrolled in. Amy sees starting college a new chance for her. She will make new friends and, as far as she is concerned, everything will just be better. She'd have freedom and she'd be her own person, not needing mommy and daddy every second of the day. What she is not expecting though, is to "fall in love" with Ty Baldwin, a leading cadet at The United States Military University, West Point. One thing leads to another and suddenly she finds herself involved with Ty. She knows things won't work out, he's twenty-two, four years older then her, and pursuing a career in the military, but she cannot help but feel the way she does for him. Ty feels the same way but is determined to make things work. But, nothing could prepare either of them for what happens a week after Ty's graduation.

So, yeah. A nice romance story for all of you romance fiends out there with a bit of action and adventure thrown in for people like me. I hope some people find this interesting. I am already working on the first chapter and with any luck it will be posted tomorrow. But reviews for the summary wouldn't hurt anything, right?

I hope that this story interests some people, if not for the military stuff then the romance.

-Steph


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Everything recognizable belongs to Lauren Brooke. I don't own the mission statement for West Point either.

**West Point**

**Chapter One**

"Oh, I just can't believe it!" mom cooed after she had set the box she had been carrying on the floor of _my_ new dorm room. "My little babies all grown up and starting college!" she covered her mouth with her hands as she gazed at me, her blue eyes wide and shinning with pride.

I blushed even though no one was around to witness my moms little display. She had a way of doing things like that to one. "Mom, it's okay," I assured her for about the five billionth time in the past two hours, "I'm not that far away from home, I'll come visit over holidays." Whether or not this would actually happen, we would see. I just said it to appease my mom.

Just then, dad lumbered through the door, carrying a big, clear, plastic tub that was filled with some more of my stuff. I had already deposited the four Kipling duffle bags that were filled with my clothes and shoes in the little room that I assumed was mine.

Dad set the box down on the floor in a mixture of other boxes and bags that must have belonged to my roommate that I had yet to actually meet. I could already tell that she liked art, if the boxes contents were any indication. Now, I haven't been looking through her stuff or anything like that, some of the boxes were, just like mine, plastic and see-through.

Dad rubbed his back and I rolled my eyes. It wasn't _that_ heavy. Dad just winked at me and continued, ignoring my eye roll completely. "Nice little spread of you've got here, Ames," he said as he looked around my new home appreciatively.

I couldn't help but grin, it really _was_ nice. All the floors were newly polished and a cherry color. The walls were all an off-white color with one exception. The room that were standing in now, which I assumed was the main room or living room or whatever it was called, had one wall that was made entirely out of dark gray stone. The door shared the wall. On the far end of the room there was a big window with a window seat that was already filled with cushions and pillows, and on the other end of the room there was a tiny "kitchen". It was basically just a sink, several cabinets above it, a counter and a mini fridge. There was a small bathroom, but it was clean and two small bedrooms. Each had a desk, a dresser and a single bed and a little window that looked over campus.

My roommate had already clearly marked "her territory". One of the rooms was already filled with stuff and the bed was made with light blue sheets. The "living room" was already decked out with a rug that sported many thin stripes of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues and purples, like a little repetitive rainbow. There was also a black couch that was dotted with oriental looking pillows. On the wall, or whatever was left of it seeing as it held two doors that matched the floor, were lined with little shelves, many already held various pieces of artwork that I didn't recognize. Against the stone wall, there was a mahogany table that held a fair sized television.

Not bad, not bad at all. I could defiantly get used to living here.

Now, just if mom and dad could ever get going I could really get this party started.

Half an hour later, my roommate still had not made an appearance and mom and dad were _still_ hanging around. They wanted to help me get organized. I let mom make my bed but I drew the line at unpacking my clothes and organizing my bathroom products.

"Mom, really," I tried to sooth my anxious mother who was fussing with my bed sheets for the hundredth time, "I'm fine, you and dad can go, I know it's a long drive back to Virginia."

Mom sniffed and when I realized that she was crying my heart plummeted.

"I could always stay the night, just to, you know, make sure you get settled in alright," she offered.

"Mom, no," I said gently but firmly so that she would get the point. I was not going to have my first night at college a tacky repeat of Gilmore Girls when Rory went to Yale and her mom stayed with her the night. Um, no. "I'm fine, everything will be _great_," I emphasized great.

She was silent for about five more minutes. I started slightly when the sound of distant gunfire and cannons filtered in through the open window.

I looked out of the window but saw nothing other than grass and big trees.

Mom joined me at the window. She shook her head and her curly blonde hair bounced against her neck. She tutted. "Those kids over at West Point," she shook her head again, "they will be the death of us all." I sighed, mom wasn't a fan of the armed forces and she certainly wasn't too happy that I had chosen a college, no matter how good of a school it was, that was a mere five miles away from West Point Military Academy. The gunfire ceased for a minute before there was a louder explosion. "If they continue with the racket they will wake you up early in the morning," mom sounded concerned, "and you will need all of the sleep you can get."

"Mom, it will be _fine_," I said for possibly the eightieth time in the past fifteen minutes.

Dad poked his head into my room before mom got the chance to reply; he had given my mom her space while she was fixing up my room. "Marion, we should get going soon, I don't want to be driving at midnight."

"You're right," mom sighed, defeated.

I followed them back out into the main room. I barely had time to think before mom engulfed me in the biggest hug possible. I hugged her back too, since I _would_ miss her. No matter how annoying she may be at times I'd still miss her.

"Marion," dad laughed after a minute and mom still hadn't let me go, "let the girl breath. You don't need to be killing all of those brain cells that got her into this place," he joked.

I laughed too. Mom let me go and I hugged dad. "You take care of yourself, kiddo, you hear?" he said, holding me at arms length. I felt tears rise in my eyes and merely nodded.

After many more hugs and tears, on the part of my mother, they left.

"Remember, honey, we're just a phone call away if you need anything," mom had said. She finally left under the insurance that I would be fine and I promised that I would call her later to tell her how I was settling and how I liked my roommate.

I looked around my now empty room.

I dragged a few of my heavy, plastic tubs into my room. Once I returned to the main room, I found two other people there.

They were both tall and slender with skin that practically radiated "I just got back from sunning in Cancun". One girl looked about my age; she had long, dark brown hair with dark brown eyes. The other girl looked older with blonde hair that was pulled casually into a ponytail and dark brown eyes. I was able to conclude that the two girls were most likely sisters, they had the same eyes.

The girl with the brown hair smiled when she saw me standing there. "Hi! You're Amy, right?"

"Yeah…" I answered slowly, unsure of how she knew my name.

The girl just laughed. "I saw your name on the door," she explained.

"Oh, right," I nodded. There was a paper stapled to every door with the occupant's names. I just couldn't remember my roommates name and I assumed that that was who this girl was.

"I'm Kat," she supplied, "you're roommate."

"Oh, right! Hi!" I shook her hand.

She smiled back. "And that's my sister, Melissa," she pointed to the girl with the blonde hair. I waved slightly. Melissa smiled. "She's a senior here at New York Tech. We were just looking for you!" Kat was practically jumping up and down with excitement, I grinned, finding that her excitement was infectious. "Melissa and her friends are going down to the town, it's only like a fifteen minute walk from here and it's really pretty. Do you want to come with?" she offered.

"Uh, I was going to unpack," I gestured towards the room that had been dubbed as mine.

Melissa shook her head and waved her hand. "You can do that later but right now you are going to come with us. The West Point boys are arriving today too, and let me be the first to tell you that they look mighty fine in uniform," she winked a brown eye at me.

I laughed. "Alright," I surrendered. "I'll go." I was anxious to do something other then unpack and would like it if I started my first official day of college with some friends.

"I hope you don't mind that I already decorated a little," Kat said as we left the dorm.

"No, it looks great," I assured her. "Those painting on the walls were nice, who are they by?"

"No one really, well me so I guess they are by somebody, just not a famous somebody," Kat rambled.

"Really? Those are really good!"

Kat smiled modestly. "Thanks! I'm an art major, fine arts really," she shrugged, "what are you majoring in?"

"Pre-vet and business management. My family owns a horse business that I am expected to take over one day."

Melissa made a face. "I could never do pre-vet. I'm not good with the whole blood and guts kind of thing. All that medical stuff is way past me, that's why I'm majoring in pre-law. More power to you, I guess."

Twenty minutes later, we were seated in a park in the town. The town was small and filled with little shops that were independently owned and sold souvenirs and antiques and the like. There were a few restaurants, a bar, and, amazingly, a Starbucks but no Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins. There were a couple of little bed and breakfasts and the town was milling with tourists that had just gotten back from their day of touring the Hudson River and the mountains or doing whatever it was that they did.

Kat and I sat side-by-side in the thick, green grass underneath a big tree with Melissa, who had insisted that I call her Mel, and her two friends, Julie and Stevie.

The infamous West Point boys had yet to make an appearance. I wasn't too depressed at this. It wasn't as though I had come to New York Tech just for a couple hot guys.

"Oh look!" Mel suddenly started, pointing over to a spot across the street. "They're heee-ere!" she sang excitedly. I'd gathered that watching the West Point boys, that's how they referred to them even though there were actually girls present, was a tradition of sorts among the three friends.

I craned my neck around to look at the plain army green bus that had just pulled up. It eased to a stop and the doors hissed open. Luckily, or not as the case may be, the bus had pulled up along the side of the road that we were on and the doors faced us.

About thirty boys, with the fair smattering of girls, exited the bus. Each one was dressed properly in a pair of fresh, white pants that were neatly tucked into a pair of well polished and oiled black boots. They each wore a jacket of a dark gray material. The sleeves fell to their wrists and their hands were covered in elegant white gloves, the collar rose to just under their chins. On each jacket, there were three perfect, vertical rows of gold balls that were connected by a thin, black rope like material. There were two golden balls on either side of the collar and the same black rope connected then. On each arm of the jacket, just below the shoulder line, there were three gold triangles without a bottom to close them, only two side of the triangle present. The two sides curved in slightly to form a graceful arc. The gold was outlined in black. On the bottom of each sleeve, there were three of the gold balls in a vertical line. The black rope came out of both sides of the gold balls and formed some more of the two sided triangles and they ended in an elegant design. Three thin strips of gold ran diagonally through the gold balls and around the bottom of the sleeve. Each Cadet, as I suppose they were called, I remember seeing a movie once about a Military School and the "students" were called cadets, had a sash of a deep maroon around his or her waist and a white hat with a shiny black bill with gold piping and a gold pendent that was the West Point emblem in the center. Also, each cadet had a strip of white leather that was about two or three inches wide over one shoulder, it hung like the ribbons the winners got at beauty pageants. Directly in the center of each of their chest, pinned to the white leather, was a gold square that was the same width as the leather. But, the part that surprised me most and made my eyes widen was what hung at the end of the white sash. A long, white, scabbard holder, the gold and silver handle just appeared by their waists.

The first thing I thought after taking in their uniforms was, God, aren't they burning in those outfits? I was wearing a light denim skirt and a maroon tank top with lace around the straps and I was sitting under a tree and, yes, I was still hot.

The cadets formed a neat group and one stepped out in front of them. I noticed that this one was just a bit different, one first glance, he looked just the same as the others but he had a little gold pin pinned to the left side of his chest. The bottom of his dark brown hair peaked out from under his flat topped hat. He was tall and more built then the others, though they were all fit. His shoulders were broad and filled out his jacket like no one else.

He stood before the group of Cadets with an air of poise, power and self-confidence. His legs were slightly spread and his booted feet were planted firmly and squarely on the ground. His hands were clasped loosely behind his back.

A group of tourists had formed on the opposite side of the road, starring at the men and women in uniforms, but the man in front of them didn't seem to notice the stares and if he did, he gave no indication of it.

When he spoke, it was a deep, masculine and powerful voice that addressed the cadets.

"To educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army," he began.

"That's West Point's mission statement," Stevie filled in for the benefit of Kat and me. She spoke in a whisper as though she were almost afraid that the man would over hear her interrupting his speech.

"You have done well to honor that mission statement this past summer, Cadets," the man continued with an air of authority. None of the others moved, they all watched him closely and listened respectively. "Now go, enjoy your time before we return to school," he ordered them. His legs and feet suddenly snapped together and his right hand snapped to his head in a picture perfect salute. The rest of the men and women followed his lead and snapped to attention, saluting the man.

"Duty, Honor, Country," they chorused powerfully back to the man.

"Duty, Honor, Country," the man returned, his voice alone was just as strong as the whole groups. He lowered his arm and stood at ease. "At ease, Cadets." The other Cadets relaxed their positions and lowered their arms as well. "You are dismissed, Cadets." And with that, the man in front turned his back on the group of thirty odd men and women in uniform, the gesture was probably meant to show that they were, indeed, dismissed. They all formed their own groups and mingled away, wandering through the town.

Four of the Cadets were so bold as to approach the man that had addressed them. The man turned around upon hearing their approach and grinned. They started laughing about something.

I just stared, Kat did the same. There wasn't much else that we _could_ do.

The man suddenly looked over at us; it was almost as though he knew we were all staring at him. I forced my mouth shut and tried to appear intelligent. And all of that hard work came undone when I actually saw his face.

A tiny smirk lifted the corners of his perfectly luscious and full lips. His face was tanned and angular with high cheek bones, perfectly chiseled, like a statue carved in the worlds most exotic stone. Locks of silky, dark brown hair fell across his forehead in a manner that would have been conceived as messy and untidy if it had been on anyone else; on him it was just perfect.

And then, a pair of startling emerald green eyes met my own much plainer gray ones.

I couldn't move, I tried to but there was no way I could break myself from that gaze the man had me locked in. It was almost as though I was paralyzed, a deer caught in the headlights of a semi.

And then the emeralds disappeared from my line of vision. I blinked, dazed from the brilliance that they had radiated. I looked towards the ground to recover myself, my face flushed and I was even hotter than I had been before.

I looked back up just in time to see the emerald eyed man's eye flicker around my little group under the tree. He lifted his right hand again, but instead of saluting again he just touched the tips of his fingers to the side of his hat. "Ladies," he greeted us clearly before he dipped his head down briefly. His friends, or the four men standing behind him, did a similar action, without speaking though.

And then they just formed a little circle and started to talk about something, I was too far away to hear.

"Who was _that_?" I finally managed to ask.

"That's Ty Baldwin," Julie answered like those three words were enough explanation for anyone.

Mel decided that she felt the need to elaborate on that. "Yes, he's twenty-two," she said giddily, her eyes still fixed on Ty Baldwin's back, or perhaps a little lower… "His father is the Dean of West Point and he's been in one military school or the other since he was ten. Now he's like West Point's prodigy Cadet or something." She shrugged. "Every year, Dean Baldwin picks one Cadet from every year to be First Captain, that's like the commander of that year of Cadets. It's always the best Cadet that gets choose, it's no shocker that he picked Ty as it and he shows him no favoritism just because he's his son."

"Isn't West Point like five miles away?" I asked. "Shouldn't they be there instead of here?"

"Yeah, but all West Point recruits have to spend summers doing military work around the world. Years are split into teams of thirty-two Cadets each and one Cadet is made the leader of that group," Stevie supplied. "All of the teams are in competition to see who does the best with their "missions" and the Dean chooses a winner and that team gets to spend three hours in town before returning back to school. Guess Ty's team won, no shocker there."

"Does he date?" Kat asked breathlessly.

Mel laughed brightly at her little sister for several seconds before she sobered up again. "He doesn't _date_ date, like I can't think of one girl that he's gone steady with but he does… do _stuff_. I mean just _look_ at him, someone like _him_ has to do some_thing_," A dreamy expression overcame Mel's face as she stared at Ty's back… erm, side, "or some_one_," Mel added with a giggle.

"And you know this how exactly?" Kat demanded. Mel gave her a look and Kat gasped. "_No_! You didn't!" Mel nodded with an insane grin plastered across her face. "Why didn't you ever tell _me_?" Kat demanded.

"Things that happen at college stay at college my dear, little, sister," Mel responded breezily.

"So, tell us what happened," Kat eagerly prompted when Mel didn't say anything else on the matter.

Mel sighed, "Fine. It was last year for his twenty-first birthday. It's like a college tradition, on someone's twenty-first birthday everyone goes to a bar to celebrate the fact that they can now drink alcohol legally, not that it's anyone's first time drinking. Anyways, everyone got a little wasted and one thing led to another and…" she stopped there and just smiled up at the sky.

Kat rolled her eyes. "So did you go out with him again?" Mel frowned. "Did he dump you?" Kat tried again.

Mel let out a gust of breath and her blonde bangs fluttered against her forehead. "He wasn't there in the morning and never called," she said easily, like it didn't bother her at all. "But it doesn't even matter, that's just the Ty Baldwin way and I did get him for one night so all is good."

And then, somehow, the conversation switched gears from Ty Baldwin to all of the hot guys on both the New York Tech campus and the West Point campus. I zoned out and picked grass from the ground, letting the green stalks flit through my fingers to fall back to the ground.

I looked up at Ty Baldwin and his group of four friends once. His head turned quickly to the side as soon as I looked up. Was he looking at me? I almost laughed in spite of myself, what an absurd thought, even for me. A guy like him would never pay a girl like me any attention. I'm not ugly or anything but I'm no Mel.

And then they started to walk away and I was still watching them as they disappeared into a group of tourists. Ty Baldwin looked back once and once again he touched the tips of his fingers to the side of his head, though, this time he had removed his hat. His hair was just as perfect as I had thought.

And, finally he disappeared with his friends and I was left with my thoughts and three senior girls and one roommate for company. My thoughts were a mix and none seemed to stick around long enough to form complete, coherent thoughts.

One thing did stick with me though and that was:

A guy like _that_ should not be allowed to wear pants like _those_…

**a/n: **so, what did you think? Chapters will get longer and better as I get into the story but this was only the first. I probably over exaggerated something's a bit… or a lot, but oh well. I just thought that a first semi meeting between Ty and Amy was good like this. Characters are OOC too, as per my usual. I have yet to write a story that sticks firmly to what Lauren Brooke has created but I like mine better then hers so HA. And, yes, I do enjoy recreating Ty's character a bit too much. Oh well. Thanks for all of the reviews for the last chapter; I want more for this chapter. Review! –Steph


	3. Chapter 2

**a/n: **here ya go, Shawna! Is it three yet?

**Disclaimer: **Everything recognizable belongs to Lauren Brooke

**West Point**

**Chapter Two**

A week later and everything was still going great. I liked all of my classes and my professors were all pretty cool. Though, some seemed to be bigger fans of homework then the others. Kat had turned into my best friend at New York Tech and we had a whole other group of friends too. Mel and her friends had immediately accepted me into their little group and we often hung out together.

Mom had slowed down on her check in phone calls but they still came. I had expected her to already be telling me to come home for Thanksgiving but she didn't. She said that I might "meet someone."

Now, it was Sunday, the last day of freedom before classes resumed.

Mel, Julie and Stevie had already told Kat and me that they were going into town and that we were coming with them. So here we were, sitting in one of the breakfast places in town, enjoying fresh omelets and hash browns and bagels. School food wasn't that bad but, this was better.

There was a very prim and proper couple sitting a few tables away from us. The man was big and well muscled with dark brown, close cropped hair and emerald green eyes. He carried an air of authority and he was dressed in a light gray button down shirt with a neat black tie. His black jacket had two pleated breast pockets, one on each side of his chest each had a gold button and the jacket was buttoned closed, showing more gold buttons. On the left side, right above his pocket there are a lot of colorful pins, just like the ones that adjourn military officer's jackets in the movies. Above them, there is a silver pin. On the other side above his pocket, there are two pins and a name tag under them, I cannot see what the name tag reads though, seeing as I am too far away. On the bottom of the collar, there are two silver pins that clearly say "US" and two gold pins under each. There is also a patch on the top of both arms. All in all, I am led to believe that he either serves the Army or works at West Point.

The woman in smaller then the man with chin length, light brown hair and warm blue eyes and a kind face. She is dressed casually in a pair of black slacks and a light blue sweater.

The woman sipped on a glass of half grapefruit and half orange juice while the man drank a cup of coffee that I noticed he kept black. They had been at the restaurant for about five minutes. They had looked at their menus but when the waitress came to take their order they told her that they were waiting for someone else.

Mel followed my gaze towards the couple. She studied them briefly before turning back to the center of the table. She leant forwards on her arms and in a whisper she said, "That's Dean Baldwin and his wife."

Oh, so that in the infamous Dean Baldwin. I have to admit, I expected a meaner looking man. Dean Baldwin looked quite kind and friendly in fact, but I had been warned that he could be quite the dictator.

Just as our food arrived, the door to the restaurant opened with a "ding" and footsteps came in our direction.

Mel giggled along with Stevie and Julie and I looked up.

I suppose I should have known. There was Ty Baldwin, walking just like any male God would, towards the couple that I assume were his parents. He was dressed differently then what I had seen him in the last time. Now, he wore a pair of gray pants with a black stripe running down each leg and a black belt with a gold belt buckle. He wore a darker gray, short sleeved button up shirt that had a gold pin on the left side of the collar and one more on the left side of his chest.

I watched as his parents stood up on his arrival. Ty and Dean Baldwin cheerfully saluted each other and Ty kissed the woman, his mother most likely, on the cheek.

It seemed as though Ty Baldwin could tell whenever someone was watching because as he sat down in his seat he looked up and once again his brilliant emerald green eyes met mine. He did that same thing where he touched the tips of his fingers on his left hand to the left side of his head and bowed his head briefly. I blushed, realizing that I was the only one at my table still staring at him and quickly turned back around.

We left the restaurant forty-five minutes later. On our way out, Julie led us through a rout that took us right past Dean Baldwin's table. We passed right in back of Ty Baldwin's chair. He sat still and perfectly straight in his chair and his arm muscles looked oh so very wonderful in that shirt. His shoulders were broad and his hair curled the tiniest bit against his tan neck. I wondered what it would be like to touch him, to feel the muscles that he was made up of…

And then, suddenly, I was. Touching him I mean.

I heard a giggle behind me and realized that Mel had bumped into me. And I, of course, in perfect Amy Fleming poise and style, had fallen to the side and all but landed on top of Ty Baldwin. My hands gripped his shoulders in an attempt to remain upright. Ty turned around in his seat and muscles rippled underneath my hands as his body swiveled around to face me. I swear I almost fainted right then and there. His big hands that were calloused from work wound around my thin arms to help me right myself. He let me go once I was standing again and I quickly took my hands away.

I blushed furiously but was unable to look away from the enchanting emerald eyes that held me in their gaze. Finally, I found the power to look away. "I'm so sorry!" I quickly apologized.

A crooked grin lifted Ty's perfect lips. "It's alright," he assured me, a little laugh in his.

Oh, God. He was probably laughing at me. That thought made me blush even more and I was sure I looked even more like a tomato. "Bye," I mumbled pathetically. Not waiting for a reply on his part, I dashed for the door. I let out a deep breath once I was safely outside.

Mel was laughing so hard that she was leaning against Stevie for support. Julie chuckled lightly. Kat grinned but looked a bit sorry for me.

"That was _not_ funny!" I exclaimed indignantly.

"You're right," Mel gasped, clutching her stomach, "it wasn't funny. It was very, very, _very_ funny!"

"That was mean, Mel," Julie laughed.

"What?" Mel asked, feigning innocence. "You were just staring at him, Amy," she said with a shrug. "I caught him looking at you a couple times during brekkie and decided to help you two out a bit."

"Wasn't that thoughtful of you? And it was certainly helpful," I huffed. "He probably thinks I'm a major klutz or something now."

Mel sauntered up to me and draped an arm across my shoulders. "Well, look on the bright side."

"What bright side?" I asked in confusion.

"You've only been here for a week and you've already gotten to touch him. Most girls couldn't say as much. Hey, it took me three years." Mel started walking down the street and, her arm being around me, I was taken along with her. The others followed close behind.

"Fine, whatever," I said, knowing that arguing over it any more would do no good. "But," I warned them all, "you have already fulfilled your day's worth of let's-embarrass-Amy-time."

**&**

I was sitting on the couch with Kat later that night; we were watching a rerun of 24. The one show that I actually watched and worshipped as though it were religion. Turns out, Kat did too. We'd both seen the episode that was on before but the fresh episodes came on, on Monday night and it was Sunday night. Old 24 was better then nothing.

It was just getting to the good part when Mrs. Logan found what's his name, Karl maybe, at Camp David and she killed the Secret Service Agent, when Mel, Stevie and Julie all burst into our room, dressed as though they were ready to go out to a party. Mel came and clicked off the television. I sat up with a groan, Kat did the same.

"What was that for? It was just getting to the good part!" Kat whined.

"Oh shove it. I know for a fact that you have already seen that episode before, Kat," Mel said.

"So? It's still fun to watch," I pouted along with Kat.

"Well not tonight it's not. We're going out," Mel announced proudly.

"Where? Why?" Kat was all questions.

"There's a party that _every_one's going to in town," Stevie said excitedly.

"Well we don't want to go," Kat said with a yawn as she stretched her arms above her head.

"Yeah," I agreed, "maybe we're not everyone." I just wanted to go to sleep and be ready for classes in the morning.

"Well tonight you are," Mel pulled us off of the couch and shoved us into our respective rooms. "Now get dressed and I expect the two of you to look hot in five minutes."

I grumbled but saw no choice so I walked to my closet. Partly because I didn't feel like dressing up in anything really good and partly because I just wanted to vex Mel for interrupting my 24 therapy, I pulled on a pair of dark washed jeans and a navy blue button down. And then, since I missed wearing them, I slipped on my black Converses.

When I walked out of my room, I found Kat in much the same attire as I was. She wore a pair of faded jeans that holes in the knees and a gray wraparound sweater. She too wore her Converses.

"Ugh," Mel groaned as she took in the sight of us, "I swear, you two are like sisters or something." Then, she walked up to me and unbuttoned the top three buttons of my shirt, "There," she stated in satisfaction as she took in my appearance, "now you don't look like an old maid."

"Gee, thanks tons, Mel," I said sarcastically.

"Those shoes though…" Mel shook her head in despair. "Let's go!" she clapped her hands and exited the room.

Kat and I followed the three senior girls sluggishly. Eventually, Mel stood between us and looped her arms through our and pulled us along at a faster pace.

"Gosh," she began, "you two are so ungrateful. You should be so glad that we're taking you to this party. There won't be like any other freshmen there."

Was that supposed to make me feel any better? I glanced at Kat and could tell that she was thinking the same thing as me.

"There's always a party a week after school starts," Julie told us as we walked into town. "It's to honor the first week of school. This party is always _the_ party to go to. It's for NY Tech and West Point."

The party turned out to be in that bar that I had seen in town before. I guess it was probably the only place to have a party around here seeing as there weren't any residential areas that close, so houses were out. I wasn't sure on New York Tech's party policy but I was pretty sure that parties in West Point dorms are frowned upon. Do they even have dorms at West Point? Don't they sleep in barracks or something?

The bar was packed full of students, most of whom were holding plastic cups filled with one form of alcoholic beverage or another. Anyone who wasn't just standing around and drinking was in the middle of the dance floor, dancing in very crude ways to the music that was pulsing through the bar.

Mel, Stevie and Julie ditched us soon after we arrived and went on a "man hunt" as they had called it. Kat and I were left standing alone in a room filled with people that were older then us. Finally, we pushed through groups of people and ended up at the bar. The guys behind the bar handed us two plastic cups filled with something. I sniffed it and wrinkled my nose but, deciding to be brave, I tasted it.

The taste was immediately recognizable. Beer. Not my favorite but I drank it anyway; it left a warm trail down to my stomach. I'd been to parties before, home in Virginia, and it didn't matter how innocent a party started, there was always someone who spiked the drinks or got an older brother to smuggle in kegs of beer.

A blonde junior came up to Kat and asked her to dance. I told her that she should go and that I would be fine alone for a while so she went. I was left standing against the wall alone. I decided that the party wasn't all that great soon enough and seeing as I probably looked like a huge looser standing there by myself, I started to head towards to the door.

Finally, I was out of the door. I breathed in the fresh, night air and started back down the street, going the way that we had come only forty-five minutes earlier.

I wasn't watching where I was going and as I rounded a corner, I walked right into someone. I made a noise that sounded like "oof" as I walked right into a hard chest. Two strong hands held onto my shoulders and helped steady me, making sure I didn't fall.

"Sorry…" I started my apology as I stepped backwards. I looked up to see who my savior had been and once I saw the shinning emeralds I could have died on the spot I was so embarrassed. I groaned, two times in one day I had walked right into him. "I am so sorry, again. I'm not usually this clumsy…"

"It's alright," the deep voice that belonged to Ty Baldwin spoke. There was the faint undertone of a laugh in it and once again I wondered if he was laughing at me. "Leaving the party already?"

I shrugged. "It's not really my kind of thing," I admitted to a complete stranger. "My friends made me come and I'm taking advantage of not knowing where they are and leaving," I stopped abruptly. Why was I telling all of this to a complete stranger? He could be like a murderer and rapist or something. But I knew he wasn't.

I think I might have spoken my thoughts aloud because Ty laughed suddenly. Either that or he was very drunk, but I didn't smell any beer on his breath so I figured I had just thought aloud. I blushed, thankful that the night concealed it from him.

"Well then," Ty began, still laughing slightly, "I'll walk you back to your dorm to protect you from all the murderers and rapist in West Point, New York."

"You don't have to," I quickly said. "Aren't you going to the party?"

The outline of T's broad shoulders shrugged in the night. "I didn't really feel like it but like you, my friends dragged me along," he admitted.

I figured that worst things could have happened so I started walking and soon felt Ty's presence by my side.

We walked in silence and I felt the urge to break it. "I am sorry about like falling on you this morning," I said quickly before he could interrupt me, "it seems I had a little help in that area from a friend."

"It's alright," Ty said once again. "It was getting a little boring with mom and The Dean, you just added some excitement to whole little family breakfast thing," he chuckled.

The Dean? "Isn't he your dad?" I asked before I could stop myself. I clamped my mouth shut in horror.

Ty just laughed and answered, "Yeah but I have to call him Dean Baldwin at school so I just call him The Dean all of the time."

"Oh," I said quietly, wondering what it would be like to have to call my dad anything other dad.

"I'm Ty Baldwin by the way," he introduced himself.

I managed to refrain from saying that I already knew that, it was a miracle really that I haven't embarrassed myself more then I already have. "I'm Amy Fleming."

We walked in silence for a few more minutes and the New York Tech campus appeared in the distance. As we neared my dorm building I turned to Ty. "Do you want to come in or something?" I offered unsurely.

The light that hung from the edge of the building illuminated Ty is light. My heart did some weird flippy thing.

For some reason I waited with my breath held for his answer.

Ty shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

I led the way over to my room and unlocked the door.

"Wow," Ty said as I flicked on the lights. He looked around the room. "You live here?"

"Yeah."

"With how many other people?" he asked curiously.

"Just my roommate Kat," I told him casually.

"One person?" he asked in disbelief. "And you have all of this space?"

"Uh, yeah," I said slowly, unsure of where he was going with all of that. He didn't say anything else though. "Why?" I finally asked. "Where do you live?"

Ty laughed for some unknown reason. His laugh dazed me briefly and once it stopped I found myself wishing that he would laugh again and I was fully prepared to do something stupid and embarrassing to get him to laugh again. "Well, let's see," he began. "I live in a room with nineteen other guys. We each have a single bed, a little dresser and a trunk at he foot of our bed to keep all of our stuff in and we have one, small bathroom."

"Oh, wow," now it was my turn to be shocked. No wonder his reaction to my dorm had been as it had. Sharing one room with nineteen other people? I could never do that.

"Yeah, that pretty much describes it," Ty broke the silence briefly.

Silence consumed us once again.

I shifted uncomfortably and my arm brushed against Ty's. I looked up and realized how close we actually were. I also realized how much taller then me he actually was, a good five inches. And just how well muscled and formed his chest actually was… and just how great he looked in that uniform (the one I had seen him in earlier)…

He was looking at something else so I was free to study his profile. Perfect lips and high cheek bones. His nose, when you looked at it from the right angle, was slightly crooked, it had probably been broken at one time or another.

And, just like the other two times I had been staring at him for too long, he turned to look at me, probably feeling my eyes plastered to his face.

His emerald eyes met mine and my breath hitched in my throat and something jumped in my chest.

What the hell was wrong with me? I'd never acted like _this_ before.

I think his next action surprised both of us.

He reached out and gently ran a finger along my cheek. Fire was left in its wake and I felt heat fill my face. My heart started to beat so loud that I wouldn't have been surprised if he had heard it.

And then, in all of two seconds, I felt his lips pressed against mine. I froze as his arms encircled my waist. I didn't know what to do with my own hand so put them safely on his shoulders. Then, as if by their own accord, my lips started to move with his. His tongue traced along my bottom lip and I immediately opened my mouth for him. He explored my mouth and I did likewise to him.

I unconsciously let out a little moan. Ty must have like that since he deepened the kiss and pulled me closer to his rock hard chest. My fingers played in the back of his silky, brown hair and his hands ran up and down my sides, getting so close to my chest but never actually touching me there.

When we finally broke for air we were both breathing fairly hard. I looked up at Ty with a smile that he returned. The next words out of my mouth were, "My rooms over here," and I dragged him into my room, closing the door behind us. My brain was screaming at me all the while that I was being stupid and was constantly reminding me that I had just met the guy but, apparently, my body had a different say on matter.

I wasn't sure of what to do next so I just stood there.

Apparently, Ty didn't have the same idea. He kissed me once again, and it was even better then the last time. My brain finally shut up and I lost myself in his kiss.

I gripped his shoulders and pulled him backwards with me. My knees hit the edge of my bed sooner then I had expected and I fell back onto the soft mattress. Seeing as I was holding on to him, Ty fell down with me but managed to catch most of his weight with his arms. I giggled breathlessly and was silenced has his lips came back over mine.

His deft fingers unbuttoned my shirt easily and pushed it open. He straddled my waist and I lifted my torso so he could push the fabric down and off of my arms.

This time, _I_ kissed _him_. His fingers roamed over my bare stomach and he unclipped my bra and tossed it aside.

And then, I was left with no shirt and he was. I just had to fix that. I unbuttoned that gray shirt he wore and pushed it off of his arms and it fell to the floor. Then, I pulled the white t-shirt he wore under it over his head and pressed my bare chest against his.

Soon enough, pants became a thing of the past.

I'd always wonder why I acted that way that night. I've never done anything as… impuls_i_ve as that before. Not even impulsive, impulsive is when you splurge and buy a pair of shoes that you know you shouldn't because they aren't on sale but buy them anyway. I didn't know what this was.

I could say I was drunk but I had only drunk one cup of beer and was left unaffected by it.

I would just settle for and plead temporary insanity.

**&**

The next morning I woke up to my alarm clock blurting out some ridiculous song. I hit the snooze button; I had an hour before my first class.

I rolled over and pulled the covers over my head and froze as I remembered last night. I grinned into my pillow. I ran my foot along to side of my bed in what I hoped was a sexy and alluring movement. I expected to feel another leg, one that was more muscled then mine, but all I felt were the cool sheets.

I frowned and sat up, clutching the blankets to my chest.

I looked around my room and soon discovered that there was no one their besides me. I collapsed back onto my bed and thumped my pillow in aggravation.

When I stopped, I just stared up at the ceiling.

Something that Mel had said my first day here ran through my mind: _"He wasn't there in the morning and never called. But it doesn't even matter, that's just the Ty Baldwin way and I did get him for one night so all is good."_

Funny, I felt differently on the matter then Mel had but one thing was for sure.

It defiantly _was_ the Ty Baldwin way.

**a/n: **I feel so stupid right now. I can't believe I just wrote that. My eyes were firmly closed the whole time and I swear I probably sounded like I was dying while I wrote that. OMG. Wow. Well I did promise you guys… and now you owe me so bad. I want tons of reviews for finally getting over my squeamishness of writing a fluffy scene. It probably sucked though… oh well. And was it too rushed? I didn't know what else to write in this chapter after the breakfast part and decided to just get right into the story rather then have a ton of pointless chapters. I'm not eager to reread that so excuse the mistakes. Review! –Steph

Shawna- it's a little past three but it's close. Ha!


	4. Chapter 3

**--Authors Note--**

Well, this is my second go at this chapter. I hope its better then the first one and trust me when I say: IT SUCKED. So, yeah, fingers crossed.

-Steph

**Disclaimer: **Everything recognizable belongs to Lauren Brooke.

**West Point**

**Chapter Three**

As it turns out, mom was right. About the West Point people I mean. I seriously think that it should, like, not be allowed to use heavy artillery in the mornings. I mean, come ON, who does that? Shooting off canons and firing off guns at what? Eight in the morning? Oh, so fun. Some of us are actually trying to sleep.

I had just about managed to free my mind from its many unwanted thoughts when the racket started up. Now I had just one more reason to despise West Point and all of its 'cadets'. I hate them all, we have enough people in the military, they should just go and—

"Amy?" Kat's voice called through my door, startling me out of my thoughts. She banged on the door.

I groaned. "What?" I threw the covers up and over my face.

Thankfully, Kat did not try to open the door, not that anything would have stopped her, she just didn't. "I just came in to get my books, I was at Mel's place last night," Kat called cheerfully, a smile present in her voice. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Whatever," I mumbled into my pillows.

"Bye!" Kat chirped. "We'll talk later!" she added before I heard the main door close behind her.

I rolled over onto my stomach and screamed into my pillow. The sound came out muffled and strained.

This was just wonderful, so if Kat knew then who else knew? Wow. My first week at college and I was well on my way to being labeled 'slut'. Well this really was just fan-fucking-tastic. And, of course, my stupid, stupid, stupid (STUPID!) brain seems to enjoy nothing more then berating me for… _last night_.

My mind finally drifted off onto some paper I was supposed to turn in at a class that day when an extra large bang and crash sounded outside.

Stupid canons or whatever weapons they use. Do they even use canons anymore? How nineteenth century of them. See? West Point guys really aren't _that_ great. Best military academy my ass, they aren't even up to date on their weapons of war.

I finally find one thing to hold over _his_ head when my brain (stupid brain) comes up with another piece of brilliant logic: they are either using canons to A) keep the culture, B) as a wake up call or C) because people actually still do use canons. How should I know? I'm majoring in Veterinarian care, not Weapons-People-Use-In-War.

Just when I start thinking about something else, something just has to happen that leads me to think about _that_ and _him_ again.

Whoop-dee freaking do.

I could already tell that this was going to be a good day. As if my cheery and pleasant mood wasn't already enough to establish that conclusion.

My alarm clock went off again and I decided that it probably was time to get out of bed. I sat up and looked around my room. I got out of bed and quickly put on a pair of boxers (mine of course, just the kind to sleep in) and a t-shirt.

Deciding that a shower (a nice shot shower) was probably my best bet at the moment, I grabbed a towel and my bathroom bag off of my dresser and started towards the door… until I tripped on something.

I looked down.

My jeans.

Wonderful.

Any more reminders my dear ol' room would like to throw at me?

I kicked the offending denim garment viciously to the side and stalked into the bathroom. I turned the water on hot and some enough the bathroom was foggy was hot, thick steam. I stripped of my clothes and jumped in, not literally. I didn't jump, knowing me I'd slip and break my nose, if not something else.

I felt marginally better after my shower. I brushed my teeth and blow dried my hair and did all of my other bathroom stuff. I got dressed in my favorite, most comfortable pair of worn in jeans that somehow had gotten a whole in the left knee. I coupled that with the soft, gray cashmere sweater that my sister, Lou, had gotten me for my last birthday, the bottom of my black t-shirt just peaked out under the bottom hem of the sweater. I laced up my favorite Converses, pulled my hair into a loose ponytail that draped over my shoulder, collected my bag and my books and I was ready for the day.

**&**

"So, tell us everything!" Mel demanded as she and Julie and Stevie joined Kat and I in the library later that afternoon. All of the day's classes were done and I had hoped that I could escape the grilling that I now knew was unavoidable. Kat, it turns out, was already in the library working on a paper and had joined me when I came. Mel, Stevie and Julie were only minutes away.

"I'm working now," I tried to excuse myself from the conversation. I bent down lower over my notebook and scribbles away furiously, hoping that they would get the hint and leave.

I could just tell Mel rolled her eyes. "Come _on_, Amy, tell us everything."

I sighed, my natural instinct was to fight them some more but I was smart enough to know that no matter how much fighting and complaining that I may have done, I was not getting out of that conversation. I set my pencil down and rubbed a hand across my eyes. "Do I even want to know how you know anything happened at all?"

"Well," Julie began, a big smile on her face, "you weren't at the party anymore and anyway, Kat saw you leaving." I glanced at Kat and she nodded in confirmation. "Ty never even showed up, and he had already said that he was definitely going to be there. It really wasn't that difficult to put two and two tighter."

"Or Amy and Ty together," Stevie joked.

"Funny," I said sarcastically.

"We weren't even absolutely sure anything had happened between you two but you have already more or less admitted to it so…" Wonderful. So, in reality, I had just dug my own grave deeper. I could have called upon smart and sensible Amy to be present just this one time and have thought things through and asked them what they knew first but, no. I had to go right on ahead and tell them exactly what they had wanted to know.

"What's the big deal?" I snapped in a snappier voice then had been attended. "There isn't anything to tell." I went back to working on my paper.

"Jeez, PMS much?" I glared at Mel. Mel through her hands up in defeat. "I was just joking, Amy," she said sincerely.

I remained silent and all that could be heard at our table was the furious scratching of my pen in my notebook. I turned a page in the book I was using as a reference, almost ripping the page right out of the binding. I took a deep breath to calm down.

I could still feel all of their eyes on me, waiting expectantly for me to dish out some juicy gossip. Fat chance of that happening anytime soon.

"So," Mel started, I should have known from that very first word that the rest of her thought would be, shall I say questionable, "was he big?"

I dropped my pen and yelped. "What?" several heads turned in our direction. I clapped a hand over my mouth. Forgot I was in a library for a second there.

The prim and tight lipped librarian shuffled over to us, her plain, old lady, tan shoes shuffling on the carpet and floral print dress swishing. "Do I have to remind you, young ladies, that you are in a library and there are people here who are wishing to work in the peace in quiet?"

"Sorry," I mumbled. Thankfully, the old librarian didn't say anything and just off to terrorize some other innocent group of students.

I turned back to my friends and glared at Mel. "What did you say?"

"Just getting your attention," Mel grinned. "But, really. Was he?"

I just stared at her in disbelief. "I refuse to answer that question."

"You did sleep with him though, right?" Stevie asked.

I sighed. "Yes," I said just to appease them. Maybe if they got a little bit out of me then they would just leave me alone.

No such luck though. "Was it good?" Mel wanted to know this time. "Because when I did it with him it was so good," she got a day dreamy look on her face and I half expected her to start drooling. Mel seemed to snap out of her trance like state and shook her head. "But, anyways, was it?" she demanded eagerly.

I blinked twice and then looked back down at my notebook. I flipped through a few pages in the reference book.

"Were you drunk?" Gee, thanks for the benefit of the doubt there, Mel.

"She only had one drink," Kat answered for me. "At least she only had one while I was with her, I don't know about later."

"I only had one drink," I sighed. Before any of them could say anything else I looked up. "Could we please not talk about this right now? It really isn't a big deal and I would just rather forget that it ever happened." I picked my pencil back up and looked down at my notebook again. I stopped and looked back up when I caught the shocked looks on all of their faces. "What?" I asked dumbly.

"Not a big deal?" Julie echoed incredulously. "Do you know how many girls would have killed to be in your _position_ last night? Excuse the irony of that statement," Julie waved her hand as if that would excuse the extreme embarrassment I felt just then.

"You guys make it sound like one night with him is like a trip to… Paris," I settled on a city that I would have loved to go to someday.

Mel snorted. "Girl, Paris is so over rated. Trust me, I've been there. One night with Ty Baldwin is better then any museum or tropical paradise in the world. It could only be better if you had Ty Baldwin at one of those tropical paradises."

"You should feel proud of what you did," Stevie said with a firm nod of her head.

"Oh, great," I started. "So now when I go home for Thanksgiving I'll have a great story to tell my mom. Gee mom, college is great. All of my classes and professors are good, I like my roommate and I made a bunch of friends and… oh, and yeah, I met a guy and half and hour later I was in bed with him!" I finished my rant sarcastically. "Oh, yeah, _that_ will go over well."

"You don't have to tell your mom everything you did," Kat said.

I stared at her. "Did you actually think I would say that to her? She'd probably die on the spot."

"So I take it he wasn't there in the morning, right?" Mel had the gal to ask that question next.

I felt a lurch of something, and I couldn't, for the life of me, ever tell you exactly what that feeling was, in my stomach. I gulped before responding with a very simply, yet classy, "No."

"Oh," Mel sounded only marginally disappointed but not at all surprised. "Well, that's expected, right? I already told you that," she reasoned.

"Yeah, and that makes me fell _so_ much better."

"You do know that all the West Point students have to be up at, like, six thirty, right?" Mel supplied me with some new information.

"So?" I wasn't catching on. Sometimes I can be slow like that.

"So," Mel continued, "you wouldn't have been awake when he had to leave and he probably just didn't want to wake you. Even though Dean Baldwin is his father, he would never hear the end of it if he, Ty Baldwin, Cadet Commander or whatever, military protégée, was late to training."

"Whatever," I shrugged it off like it was no big deal even though I felt that same feeling in my stomach as she made excuses for him. "It doesn't even matter; it's over and done with. I'll probably never even see him again anyway so what's it matter?" of course, it mattered a lot but I wasn't about to admit that to any of them.

Stevie laughed softly so that she didn't attract the librarians attention again, the librarian was already watching us closely, just waiting for us to do something so that she could kick us out of her precious library.

"You can't avoid him. He's only five miles away and we share the town in between anyway," Stevie said.

"Yeah, and you guys already told me that they don't get a lot of free time at West Point," I shot back quickly, hoping that one of them ad actually mentioned something about what I had just said.

"But they still do get some free time," Mel said. "You'll run into him eventually."

I shrugged; I tried my hardest to keep up with pretending that it didn't matter at all to me. If only it was working internally as well. "Not necessarily. He's a senior, right?" I received nods from all people present at my table. "Well then this is his last year here and then he will be gone," I leant back in my chair, confident with my new plan of action. All I had to do was avoid the town as much as possible. It actually was a fairly logical plan, if you didn't consider everything else.

"For a year?" Mel's voice raised the slightest bit in disbelief. She lowered it immediately when the librarian made a movement towards us. "You can't so that. That's, like, the only place off campus that we can actually go to." And thank you, Mel, for bringing up one of said points that ruin my whole plan.

"I'll still go, just avoid it at times that he will be there." I sounded like a baby, I really did.

"Good luck with that," Julie rolled her eyes.

"Hey," Kat spoke up for the first time in a while, "it's just like what you already said, Amy. It doesn't even matter anymore." I stared at my friend. Was one of them actually taking my side in all of this? Amazing. "Just don't think about him, if you see him then ignore him."

I almost hugged Kat. "And that," I said to Kat, "is why you are my best friend ever." Okay, so maybe she wasn't my best friend ever but they all got the gist of what I was trying to convey.

Mel glared at Kat. "You just had to say that, didn't you?"

"What?" Kat's forehead creased in confusion.

"Nothing," Mel shook her head glumly.

Okay, now I was confused. I let it drop though, it finally seemed as though we were getting off of the subject of me and a certain West Point boy doing a certain something.

Of course, I only thought that until Mel decided to poke more holes in my plan of avoiding Ty Baldwin. "He won't really be gone though, you know? His family has a house close by."

I sighed and dropped my head into my arms.

When did I get so stupid? I have never acted like I did the previous night before. I will always wonder what came over me, what absurd thing influenced me to do what I did. It was embarrassing just recollecting my actions from the night before. I wish I could say that I was drunk, but it had already been established that I clearly was not drunk. I had many an alibi on that matter already, or just Kat, but still. I could also say that I was under the influence of some illegal substance but that was even less Amy Fleming then sleeping with a guy that I had just met.

No, there really was no logical explanation for what I did.

I'm not lonely, depressed, a sex addict, a slut, a whore or anything that is at all related to any of the afore listed words.

But, even after all of my complaining and bitching and moaning on the topic, I wasn't really regretful of what I did. I was more upset that he had just left. It doesn't matter if he had classes or whatever he would be doing at such an ungodly hour of the morning. He could have at least left a note or something if he didn't want to wake me up.

But way to blow a shot at a girls confidence. To just be left like that! That's got to be one of the worst things that a guy could do to a girl.

I may have been able to convince myself, however poorly a job I did at it, that I hated Ty Baldwin's guts and anything that had to do with him but I could not rid myself of that stupid feeling in the pit of my stomach that I felt whenever I thought about him.

It must just be the aftereffects of doing… yeah, that.

**&**

That night, I found myself seated on the couch with Kat by my side. We had hurried back to our room just a little bit before nine o'clock and had nabbed bags of chips, some popcorn and a few sodas from our poorly stocked 'kitchen' and were all ready and set just as 24 started. Kat must be like my long lost sister or something, we both watch 24 like a religion.

The opening credits and theme song had just finished and the commercials had come on when my cell phone started ringing. I glanced over to where the noise was coming from. Right. I had just dropped my bag carelessly on the ground by door.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Kat asked me as 'Home on the Range' kept belting out of my phone with a volume that was surprising for such a little gadget.

"Um, no," I answered. I wasn't about to move. I pretended to be engrossed in a commercial. It was the Vonage one. The Vonage commercials are so funny. This was the one with guy talking and in the background there was the lobster and it got caught in the revolving doors.

My phone stopped ringing after a minute. A minute later, just as 24 was starting up again, the tune of 'Home on the Range' filtered out of my bag once again. I ignored it again and it eventually stopped ringing. A minute later, it started to ring again. I sighed but didn't get up to get it; my eyes were glued to the television and Jack Bauer as he preformed his latest stunt.

Kat finally snapped when my phone started to ring once more. She sighed and heaved herself off of the couch, setting her bag of chips and can of Sprite on the table in front of us. She jumped over to my bag and rummaged through its pockets until she found me phone. She flipped it open and in a voice filled with authority, she said, "Hello? We're watching 24 right now and 'Home on the Range' playing over and over is kind of ruining it. Please stop cal—" Kat suddenly stopped in the middle of her rant.

Dear, God. I could only hope that whoever was calling was calling the wrong number. Way for my roommate to meet my mom, right?

"Oh," Kat squeaked in a very small voice. "Sorry," she said hurriedly. I'm taking bets on my mother. "Oh, yeah, right, she's right here." Kat flounced back over to me and the couch and the food, a grin spreading across her face. "Here ya go!" she sang in a singsong voice. She tossed the cell phone to me and I just managed to catch it.

"Who is it?" I asked, not really thinking about the fact that whoever was on the other line could probably hear me.

"It's Lover Boy!" Kat said. She sat back down and flashed me another grin before turning her attention back to the TV. I glanced over, great. I missed the good part. When there is just suddenly fire and the chatter of guns you know something good just happened. "Well don't keep him waiting," Kat's voice reminded me that I still held my phone in my hands.

I picked it up and placed it to my ear. "Hello?" I asked tentatively, I hoped whoever it was, was gone now so that I could go back to watching my show.

"Hey, Amy?" A deep and clearly masculine voice spoke in my ear.

"Uh, yeah," I said, not paying attention and trying to place the voice. I knew I had heard it somewhere before.

"It's me, Ty."

I'm not very proud to recall my reaction to those three words. My mouth almost certainly fell open and my eyes bugged out. I probably look like a fish, just less attractive. I think I also may have made a weird and very embarrassing noise.

Ty's deep laugh rumbled through my phone and into my ear and I welcomed back that feeling in my stomach.

"Um, yeah? Hi." Oh, how I wish I could think of something intelligent to say. What I really would have liked to tell him was a nice, big, 'fuck off'. Needless to say, that didn't quite go as I had planned.

Kat glanced over at me briefly before turning back to the TV.

"Yeah, so anyway—" Ty began again.

"How did you get my number anyway?" I blurted out without thinking, obviously interrupting whatever he had been about to say.

"One of your friends gave it to me," he said.

"Which friend?' I asked suspiciously.

"Mel." I knew it. I'd have to talk to Mel about this later. Had I not already made it perfectly clear that I didn't want to have anything to do with Ty Baldwin, much less talk to him, ever again? Maybe I wasn't clear enough.

"Oh, right."

"Yeah, so anyway—" Ty began again and as was my custom, I interrupted him once again before he could get past those three opening words.

"Did you want something?" my mother would have a coronary is she could hear my rudeness now.

"Yeah, I—" he really must just love me for all of the interrupting that I've done.

"Well, could you hurry it up?" I asked rather brusquely. "I'm kind of in the middle of something."

If our positions had been somehow reversed, and if I had been on the receiving end of my words then I would have felt a bit uncomfortable. Ty, on the other hand, was not in the slightest. That confidence that was almost mockingly arrogant and cocky never once wavered. "If you would stop interrupting me then I could be done by now."

I amazing remained silent but so did Ty. This was so frustrating. It was like he had been sent straight from my own person hell to sleep with me, ditch me in the morning without a word and then annoy me to no end. "So? What are you waiting for? You're wasting my minutes."

Ty sighed into my ear. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that I didn't get to say goodbye to you this morning, I had to get back to school for classes and—"

"Did you get _Mel_ to tell me that to?" I snipped back.

"No, I—"

"Look, is there a point to this? Because I would honestly like nothing better then to never see you again." Way to be forceful and in control of the conversation, Amy. Let him no that I won't take any shit.

"I understand," like hell you do, "but, I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me on Friday night."

I was all set with another snide reply; it was all ready on my lips and just waiting to come out. I stopped it at the last minute though, thankfully. He couldn't have said what I though I just heard, right? There must be an interference on the line.

"Excuse me?"

"Would you like to go out to dinner with me on Friday night?" Ty repeated.

Now there was no doubt that I had heard right. Now I was just speechless. He had some real gal to be asking me out on a _date_.

"Hello?" I think I remained quiet too long. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"So? What do you say?" was it just me or was there just a little bit of hope in his voice?

My eyes narrowed. "Why should I say yes? After everything you've done wh—"

Whoa, now he interrupted me. "I thought you'd feel that way," he said.

"Really? What ever gave you that ide—"

"Let me make it up to you." I was silent. "I want to make it up to you. Let us have a fresh start, if you will."

"I should say no and call you a bastard," was what I said in return. I felt like hitting myself in the forehead, hard. Or, better yet, bang my head against the brick wall, hard. It sounded like I was, of all the things in the world, _flirting_ with him.

"Humor me."

And that was all it took for me to cave. The funny feeling in my stomach returned and the next words out of my mouth were completely uncalled for. I was just humoring him. At least, that's what I would always say from that day on until the end of time. Or maybe he could do something like mind control or something. Because there was no way that I would ever have agreed to his proposal under a clear and sane state of being.

But, there it was anyway.

The one word that would seal my fate for the rest of my life.

The one word that would bind me forever.

"Fine."

**a/n: **so? Its okay, I think. Just to let you know, I don't know when I'll update again. I'm going to AZ tomorrow (Monday) and have decided not to take my laptop. I can always use my mom's laptop at our house or my step-dad's computer. I just don't feel like carrying Mr. Laptop through the airport. I'm gone for three weeks though and then come back for a week before I go to camp for a month. I come back from AZ on July 16th though. See all off you guys later! -Steph


	5. Chapter 4

**-- Authors Note --**

I got a lot less reviews than I usually get for the last chapter so I'm not updating again until I get a bunch more. I'm only updating now because I'm going to camp on Sunday for four weeks and don't want to leave you hanging. With the time I was away before and the next month, that would be two months without an update. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Review.

-Steph

**Disclaimer: **still don't own anything

**West Point**

**Chapter Four**

By Thursday night, the anger that had fueled me through the better part of the past week was slowly disintegrating. Melting away into something that I would later call, out of all things in the world, nervousness. By Friday morning, it was once again anger, just not as strong as it had been previously but it was anger nonetheless. Once I forgot the cannons and guns that served as my alarm clock every morning, my newly back anger turned back to nerves.

And what was it for?

A guy I was supposed to hate.

'Supposed to' being the operative words here.

I didn't understand it. How could I be nervous about seeing Ty Baldwin? He was nothing more then a pig headed jerk.

But, as Kat reminded me at every available possibility, I was the one that agreed to go out with him. I'm psychotic, they should move to the asylum. One on the other side of the world preferably. Do they let you do that? Choose the asylum you want to go to, I mean? I doubt it matters. Crazy people probably don't care where they are anyway.

And I'm slowly but surely turning into one of them.

I wished that I could just call him up and say that I changed my mind and can't, no, don't want to, go out with him tonight. I would too, if it weren't for two little problems. One, I didn't have his phone number and two; I'd just get to nervous and hang up on him. While praying that he didn't have caller ID, of course.

And then there was always Mel and here statement that came up at least once every time we spoke, no matter what the conversation was about. It wouldn't have stopped if I had been talking about my dead dog.

"You know," she'd say, completely devoid of any sympathy for me and my newly dad dog that I didn't even have, "he called you, didn't he? If he wasn't a good friend I never would have spoken to him again after we did it. He doesn't usually call, and the same day no less, or the next day I suppose. And he asked you out. He so likes you, girl, you are _so_ lucky!"

I didn't feel extremely lucky, not right then at least. I actually felt a little sick.

Kat had banished me to my room to get dressed. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had locked the door on the outside or had built a barricade against it. The window was about big enough for me to slide through but I doubted if I'd ever be able to get it opened.

I glanced around my room quickly. I guess I'd just have to get dressed and…

I tapped my chin with my index finger as a plan formed in rapidly in my mind.

Yes. I had it. The perfect fool proof plan:

I get dressed and look like I was all ready to go out on a "date", if that's even what this is, it could be a pity dinner for all I knew. Anyways, then I'd tell Kat that I was meeting Ty outside and I'd come back in a few hours, pretending like I had gone out and all. When Kat was asleep I'd raid the little kitchen for whatever food I could find, or I could grab a bite to eat on my own.

To help Kat buy my scheme, I dressed rather more nicely then I would have if I was actually going to go out with him. I put on a black pair of black dress pants. I wore a white, button down shirt with a turquoise, v-neck sweater over it. The 'v' in the sweater came to about my naval. I put on my Converses that had the least scuff marks on them, hey, there's only so much a girl can do. I decided on leaving my hair down and touched up the minimal amounts of makeup that I wore.

When I was ready, I grabbed my purse and coat and prepared to confront Kat. I was debating with myself how to explain later if Ty showed up asking for me and I had said I was meeting him somewhere.

"Hey, Kat?" I addressed her without actually looking at her as I brushed a piece of white fuzz off of my black pants. "I'm just going to go now, I told Ty that I'd mee…" and then I looked up and groaned.

Because there he stood in all his masculine, Godly glory, his emerald eyes bright with laughter and a small smirk turned up his perfect lips as he looked at me. He wore that weird black pants, gray shirt ensemble that I'd seen him in the last time and a black coat. Standing right next to Kat in the middle of my dorm room, looking like he owned the place.

"Told me you'd what?" Ty asked.

I gritted my teeth. I was so busted.

"Yeah, what was that, Amy?" Kat asked lightly, clearly seeing right through me.

"Oh, never mind," I said quickly, trying my very hardest to be pleasant and to squish that little, funny feeling that had returned to the pit of my stomach.

_I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. _

I repeatedly reminded myself, just incase I would happen to forget it. Which could have catastrophic consequences. The world could end. See? Bad. _I hate him. _Yes, Amy, remember that. But maybe it wouldn't be terrible because if the world were magically to end right that very second I would never have to see him, ever again and I could get out of this "date" from hell, funny, I was, coincidentally, going on said "date" from hell with Satan himself.

Maybe that was a bit harsh… but I'm not taking it back. I swear, he is Satan. Does Satan have a killer body, beautiful, silky brown hair and the most magnificent emerald green eyes? Of course he does.

Ty, thankfully, chose not to press any farther on about my half completed thought. I knew he knew what I was going to say though. And Kat knew too, wonderful. I blushed; embarrassed that I had been caught up in my horrible plan, I bet it wouldn't have worked anyway.

"Ready to go?"

I shot Kat a pleading look but she just grinned at me. Some friend she is.

"Sure," I sighed heavily.

I followed Ty to the door. Those black dress-like shoes he wore made a soft, muffled noise against the hard wood floor. It must suck having a uniform in college. Though, he was probably used to it if what I'd heard about him being in military school practically his whole school career was actually true. It was kind of scary, in a way; I bet he could kill me a thousand different ways… not that those are the types of thoughts that I need a time like this.

Ty opened the door for me and waited for me to pass through before following my out, just like a true gentlemen.

Kat grabbed my arm and pulled me back before I was completely out though and I had a momentary burst of hope that she had come around and was going to get me out of this. No such luck though, all she said was, "I'm crashing at Mel's place tonight so feel free to… you know," thank God she whispered it. Though, with Ty standing so close I wouldn't have been surprised if he had heard.

I blushed furiously at the mere thought of Ty hearing my roommate say such a thing but managed a semi harsh glare in her direction. I ducked around Ty and out into the hall.

Ty closed the door behind him and finally turned to look at me once again. I felt his eyes on my face and forced myself to look up at him. My eyes met his and I found myself immediately lost in those pools of emerald liquid that constituted as his eyes. That feeling returned to my stomach. It took every last ounce of willpower I had in me but I managed to tear my eyes from his and look at the stone right past his right ear.

"So," I said when he continued to stare at me and the silence became uncomfortable, "where are we going?"

I noticed Ty shake his head quickly, as if he had just been awoken from a dream. His emerald eyes were the slightest bit dazed. I looked at him quizzically.

The life and freshness returned to light up his eyes. "I thought we'd go to Maxwell's, a nice little restaurant in town."

"Okay," I said bluntly. "Are we walking?" I pulled my coat tighter around my body, it was a surprisingly chilly night out for early fall.

"No," Ty snorted. "I have a car."

"You do?"

"Yeah, you didn't think I walked five miles to get here, did you?" he grinned.

I looked away, down at the ground to be exact, and shrugged. "I don't know."

There was silence for a moment. "Okay, so are you ready to go?"

"Sure," as ready as I ever will be.

It was silent as I walked by his side, out of the dorm building and down a path. He seemed to know his way around New York Tech mighty well. We got to where Ty had parked his car and he pulled out a set of key from his pocket. I looked around, slightly eager to see what his car would look like. A part of me hoped that it was a piece of junk that I could laugh about with Kat later. All I could see, though, was a big, black silhouette in the darkness. Maybe it was a really old truck, with peeling paint and creaky doors… I just hope it wasn't loud.

He pressed the unlock button on the key ring as we neared his car and the headlights flashed as the doors clicked open. I frowned. So much for him having an ugly, old car. His car couldn't have been more then a year or two old. It was perfectly cleaned and detailed, the paint a deep, midnight blue color. It was an Escalade EXT, the cross between the SUV and the pickup truck. I had to admit, it was a hot car.

"Nice car," I vaguely complemented as he opened the passenger side door for me and I climbed into the soft, leather fortress.

"Thanks," Ty smiled and closed the door. He walked around the front of the Escalade EXT to get to the drivers side. The light on the inside of the cab provided me with enough light to watch him as he walked.

His stride was swift and confident, powerful yet graceful.

Now was my chance, I realized, I could bolt from the car and run before he got into the car.

Aw, who was I kidding? He'd probably catch me, God knows he looked strong enough and he was probably loads faster then me. I had no chance. I leaned back against the welcomed comfort the leather seat provided me.

It was silent once again as Ty drove. The least he could have done was turn on the radio. He didn't though and I was stuck in the uncomfortable and awkward silence. I knew this was a bad idea, we'd already run out of things to talk about and dinner hadn't even started.

The lights of the town welcomed us as we quickly completely the surprisingly short drive from the NY Tech campus. Well, I only had ever walked before and that took about twenty minutes. It took about ten minutes driving. Ty parked the car on the side of the street.

"Shall we?" he turned to me and asked.

I didn't reply. I got out of the car before he was able to reach the door to open it for me. I hopped down from the inside of the car and landed smoothly on the pavement. I stepped up onto the sidewalk. Ty closed the car door behind me. We walked side by side down the sidewalk, past all of the happy couples and families of tourists that chattered away happily. It made me feel more out of place then ever. Several people glanced at Ty's wardrobe and whispered about it. Ty either didn't notice or just didn't car.

After what seemed to me like ages of walking and silence, we arrived at Maxwell's, the restaurant that Ty had said we were going to. It was a nice place, I could tell that from the outside. Being one of the nicer restaurants in the town, it was also a kid friendly place. A quick glance at the menu told me that they had a good selection of food but were rather pricey. I frowned; I didn't want him to spend money on me.

We approached the little desk that the hostess was stationed at. She was leaning over, writing something on something.

The hostess looked up, a rather bored expression on her face. That quickly disappeared when she took in Ty. Her eyes widened and she looked like this was the highpoint of her day, hell, it was probably the highpoint of her week. "Table for one, sir?" she asked in a flirtatious voice.

Ty cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed on my behalf. "Um, no actually, two."

The hostess glanced at me and her eyes narrowed. She blatantly eyes me up and down. I stood my ground and didn't shrink away from her judging gaze like I so wanted to. She couldn't see how someone like me was with someone like Ty. And, she was right. I had no business to be with Ty.

Ty was like a personal God, a male model, he was too prefect, too gorgeous. The hostess was tall, curvy, busty and blonde. I was shorter then both, with dull gray eyes, brunette hair and not as good of a figure. I felt out of place. I was ready to take the hostesses job and let her dine with Ty.

"Very well," she said with a sniff. She grabbed two menus and, flipping her long, blonde hair over her shoulder led us to our table. She swished her butt back and forth a bit too much as she walked. I tried my hardest to ignore her. All I wanted to do was go home. Ty pulled out my chair for me before sitting down himself. The hostess handed us our menus and to Ty she said, "Your server will be Paul tonight, he'll be out in just a sec." she didn't even glance at me.

Wonderful. My self esteem has taken two beatings in the past week and undoubtedly will receive more before this night is over.

The blonde hostess walked away, shaking her butt back and forth all the while. I grimaced. She was rude; she didn't even look at me.

Feeling worse then I had imagined myself feeling, I picked up my menu and looked at in blankly, the words hardly even registering. I had thought that tonight I would be able to keep my anger at Ty and nothing else. I had counted on be angry, now I felt like I wanted to cry. After that hostess I was determined that nothing could get worse that night.

At least that is what I thought until the waitress/hostess came back with our waters. Once again, she didn't even look at me, she only looked at Ty. She gave him what I was sure was her sexiest smile. I slumped backwards in my chair in despair. She placed Ty's water glass on the table near him gently but plunked mine down. Some of the water sloshed over the side of the glass and stained the white table cloth. She still didn't look at me.

I finally looked up from my menu and looked at Ty. He was leaning back in his chair and reading his menu.

"You know," I said and, upon hearing my voice, Ty looked up at me, "I think I should just go, this clearly is not working out."

It seemed to take a moment for my words to completely register to Ty. He closed his menu and set it to the side. His brown eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "Stay, please, you don't have to go just yet," it almost sounded as though… as though he actually wanted to be there with me.

"I'm sorry, but I just don't think that this," I gestured at the table and the spilled water in front of me, "any of this is going to work."

"We just got here," Ty protested, "how do you know if it will work or not?" he challenged me with his brilliant emerald gaze.

I sighed. "Look, I don't even know why I agreed to going out with you tonight," I admitted to him. "I don't want to be here and I don't know why you asked me here but…"

"I _do_ want you here, though," Ty objected, interrupting me. "I want to talk to you."

"Talk?" I echoed incredulously, my voice rising just the slightest bit. "You want to talk," I repeated. I blinked. "You've hardly said a word since you picked me up!"

"I know," Ty grimaced, "and I'm sorry if I seemed rude in any way but—"

"You're worried if you seem rude?" I echoed.

"Yes, do you have to repeat everything I say?" Ty was getting a little annoyed with me, I could tell. I cringed; my intention wasn't to make him mad at me. But, then again, he hurt me so I can hurt him right back.

"I think you've passed being rude," I said stonily. "Actually, I'd say that you've surpassed it."

Ty stared at me. He sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes as though he were tired. "Look, I know I acted like a jerk. I'm sorry. Can't we just forget about last week?"

I stared at him now. "Forget it?" I echoed him once again and his face darkened, apparently he didn't take to being repeated. "That's easier to say for some then it is for others."

Ty looked confused, I returned his gaze dead on. His eyes widened as understanding finally _dawned_ on him. "That wasn't your… your first time, was it?" his eyes and voice were filled with absolute dread.

Finally, the one thing that I hadn't told anyone. Not Kat, Not Mel, not anyone. No one asked and I didn't feel the need to share it. But there it was, out in the open, finally.

I couldn't say anything; there wasn't anything one could say in response to a question like that. I just stared at Ty; I looked him straight in the eye. The emotions that rose in those deep, emerald orbs shocked me. That certainly wasn't something I expected.

"Oh God," he groaned, dropping his head. "So I guess sorry isn't enough, huh?" he didn't wait for me to reply, not that I was going to, he just laughed softly. "I'm stupid. You must think I'm the biggest bastard ever." He looked back up at me. "Look, I don't know what happened that night," he admitted. "Well, I do but I don't know why," he amended. "I don't do things like that often." I opened my mouth to object but he stopped me by saying, "Mel spoke to you obviously and gave you a false image of me. I'm not like she says, really. Mel's a good friend in all honesty she just has a tendency to exaggerate a bit at times."

He paused, as though he were waiting for me to say something. When I didn't he sighed once again and pushed a hand through his hair. He looked back at me. "All I know is that that night felt… I don't know, _right_," he finally settled on. "I don't know if you feel that way," he continued, "but that's just how I felt. God," he groaned, "the first time I ever have to talk about my feelings and I massacre it," he mumbled.

"No," I said quickly, strangely eager to comfort and console him. It surprised him more then me I think, though. "I mean…" what did I mean? Time for some quick thinking, Amy. "I meant that… you're not doing a bad job," I rubbed the back of my neck and drew swirls with my finger on the table cloth.

"Okay," Ty said slowly, looking at me in wonder. "I do know, though, that I asked you here tonight because I wanted to talk to you, start over. We can do that, can't we? I mean, it won't be easy or anything and I guess that you don't feel like I did but… let's start over. Pretend we just met."

I met his eyes once again, he seemed sincere enough. That feeling returned to my stomach as I mulled over his words. I couldn't believe what I was doing… again it was as though some outside force was doing my speaking for me. But, there it was again. That one, four letter word that would bring me so much anguish three years later.

"Fine."

**a/n: **review! -Steph


	6. Authors Note

**9-20-06**

If you have not read the authors note that was previously here then you don't need to! Yep. I took it off and replaced it with this wonderful piece of writing. Sure… anyways, I will be updating this story very soon. Yup.

So, to everyone that's just reading this:

Enjoy the story and just ignore my author's notes in the previous chapter! Oh, and always reviews are appreciated (obviously not for this but for the real chapters). Have fun reading this story because I'm having a blast writing it. Oh, and to answer questions, I DO like recreating Ty's character, maybe a bit too much. It's just so fun. Sadly (or not, whichever the case may be) Amy's character is always the same, she's not as fun, in my opinion. Oh well. Tips on my writing and/or the story and what has happened/what you think should happen are always a good thing, too!

Thanks, guys!

Sorry this story hasn't been getting much attention but I plan to come back to it ASAP! I just want to get TP done first (there are only a few chapters left).

I like this authors note better then the last one. Don't you? Happy times will go on interrupted… --looks around and hears crickets—um, yeah, okay. BYE!

TTYL

-Steph

(Kalinichenko19)


	7. Chapter 5

**-- Authors Note --**

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all of those who either sent me a review, PM or email telling me that they could connect with me in someway because they too are adopted. Those really meant a lot! I won't mention any names but you guys all know who you are! Thanks tons!

But, in all other regards just forget about my little spazz attack.

And, Gracie, looking forward to being footballer's wives with ya! There's just one little, itsy bitsy chink in our plan… turns out Maksym is, indeed, married. –sobs— And Zizou _is_ 34 so there's a good chance he's married too. Now let's find two soccer players closer to our ages that aren't married. I call the hot guy with tons of tattoos on his arms (blanking on the name, something with a Sergio) from Spain! Hehehehehe! Maksym is still better though –pouts—

Review!

-Steph

**Disclaimer: **Lauren Brooke receives full credit and ownership for the things that can be traced back to Heartland. Everything else, and story plot, are my property and copying will NOT be appreciated so please refrain from doing so. She basically owns the basic characters of Amy, Ty, Brad, Tim, Lou, Scott, Matt, Soraya, Marion and any other character that may reappear in this story. She also owns Heartland and all horses associated with it. Own the characters as they appear in this story (forgoing names and histories, apart from Ty's history).

**West Point**

**Chapter Five**

Ty visibly relaxed once I said that I would stay and give him a chance at… something. Friendship most likely. Not that that would ever happen but I figured that I could do the guy a favor and stick around a bit longer. But then it hit me that I really didn't owe him any favors. Then I told myself to shut up, which was, you know, weird because I still detested the guy with a passion.

That's what I told myself anyway.

The waiter, thankfully the blonde hostess did not make another appearance. The waiters name was Paul, just as Blondie had said. But, unlike Blondie, Paul was polite and actually spoke to me and looked at me. I realized then that I had not really looked at the menu. I grabbed m menu and said the first thing that I saw, Cesar salad with salmon on the top. Ty, I suppose, had not yet decided what he wanted either as he too looked briefly at the menu before ordering a stake. Typical guy food.

Paul took our menus and left us alone once again. And his butt, thankfully, shook no more then one's butt should shake whilst they walk. Not that I was looking at my waiters butt or anything…

Once Paul left Ty and me alone, there was more silence between us. Shocker. After Ty's big speech about being a jerk and just wanting to talk to me, he had nothing to say. I couldn't stand another second of silence between us so I spoke.

"So, you said you wanted to talk to me," I told him. Ty looked at me questioningly, obviously waiting to see what weird thing I would do now. "Go ahead, talk," I ordered him, leaning back into my chair.

"Okay," Ty said slowly. He may have agreed but he did not start talking.

"So, talk about something," I said. "Tell me about yourself, just _talk_," I prompted him forwards.

Ty looked at me quizzically. "About me? I'm afraid I'm not very interesting and my life story may just bore you to tears." There was a twinkle in his emerald eyes as he spoke that I found I liked very much.

"Sure," I said in a disbelieving way. "You, the supposed," and here I used air quotes, "'military protégée' claims to have nothing interesting to share. If that's true about you then my life story would surely kill you." I was teasing of course… sort of. My life really was not terribly interesting.

Ty grinned, I suppose he got that I was kidding. "Well then, let's not hear your life story then, shall we?" Or maybe not. God, _Cadet_ Tyler Baldwin had to be _the_ most infuriating male on the planet.

"Ha-ha," I said dryly without any laughter in my voice, "funny."

"That was a joke, you know," he told me casually.

"People have different senses of humors, I suppose," was my only reply.

"I don't understand you, you know," he mused quietly as he stared levelly at me.

I shifted, just slightly uncomfortable at having those stunning emerald eyes plastered on my face. I tried my very hardest to regain my composure before I replied. "That may be because you _don't_ know me." All in all, I was quite pleased with the air of indifference I managed to maintain throughout the whole thing.

Ty's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. It was painfully obvious – to me in the very least – that no one – at least no one of the female variety – had ever responded to him quite like I was doing. He wasn't used to it. Was it wrong to feel just a little, tiny bit proud of that fact?

"You don't make it easy for a guy, do you?" He chuckled softly.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" I reasoned. I quirked my eyebrow in the way that I'd frequently seen women do in movies or on television shows. It probably just made me look like I had something in my eye though but whatever. I should earn brownie points for just trying. "You shouldn't be asking me for anything else at the moment."

Ty looked frustrated. Again, brownie points, maybe? How many people – again, specifically of the female variety – had succeeded in making this man frustrated? Just something else that makes me less like everyone else. There was the feeling of power with it though. But, there was also something else… I chose to ignore it. But, as my body and mind have made custom of doing, what I choose to do and what I end up doing in the end are two totally different things. Maybe it was a little bit of guilt I felt. I wasn't completely sure; I never was good with identifying emotions. I did know, however, that whatever I felt at that time was something I had never felt before.

And that thought, in turn, made _me_ frustrated.

That wasn't how it was supposed to go!

It was supposed to be _him_ feeling frustrated. It was supposed to be _him_ being confused. It was supposed to be _him_ feeling stupid. It was supposed to be _him_ feeling guilty. It was supposed to _him_ feeling everything that I was – I gave him points for appearing frustrated and confused.

I guess the saying 'you get what you give' was more true then I had ever imagined.

"Start at the beginning," I suggested after the silence had gone on for too long. When he failed to respond yet again I finally snapped. He looked as though he were contemplating something but, quite frankly, as rotten a person at it will make me seem, I couldn't have cared less if right at that moment he was discovering the cure for cancer. He could save the world on his own damn time. "Why is it that you were the one who basically begged me to stay here but _I'm_ the only one making an effort whatsoever to start a conversation?"

Ty raised an eyebrow. "I was thinking of where to start," he said simply.

"Oh," now I felt just a little bit stupid. "Well start," my voice was hard again.

His shoulders shook in a soundless laugh and he smiled lightly at me. My eyes narrowed.

"Fine," he surrendered. "I'll tell you about myself. My twenty-second birthday is in two months," he did not specify on the date and I didn't interrupt for fear of him not talking again. "I am a senior at West Point. My father, Brad Baldwin, is the dean there. My mother's name is Anne; she collects art, no joke, that's her 'profession.' I have a younger brother named Lee, he's seventeen and in his senior year at the high school near our house." He stopped talking abruptly.

"Is your brother in military school, too?" I prompted him to go on.

Ty seemed reluctant to answer but he did nevertheless. "No. Dad put him in GW for a year and he hated it. He plays baseball," he said with distaste.

"GW?" I asked in confusion.

"George Washington Military Academy," Ty supplied. "It's like primary and high school military style," he grinned at his own joke.

I tried my very hardest not too but it didn't exactly work. Ty's eyes sparkled. "And you went there?"

"Yes." He really was not very lenient about giving out details.

"Did you ever go to normal school?" I changed tracks a bit, thinking that it would lead back to the topic of military schools.

"Yes," Ty said. I was surprised when he continued, "Up until the fourth grade. That's when dad sent me off to GW."

"That young?" I asked, shocked that such a young child could have been thrown into such a hard life.

"Yes," Ty said matter-of-factly. It didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.

"Did you…" I thought quickly on how to phrase my question without offending him, "want to go

"Yes," Ty answered with the same answer he'd use for at least my last three questions. I don't think I need to note that his answer was a bit surprising.

"Why?" Now I tried my hand at one syllable phrases.

Ty thought for a very short time before answering, it was as though it was a rehearsed answer. "My dad had served in the US Army for over thirty years. He didn't go to GW or West Point or any military school. He started from the bottom and rose to be a general. I always admired him for it, even when I was just a little kid," he admitted, I could tell he was starting to become more comfortable about sharing these things with me. "He was always away, serving his country. He wasn't there for a lot of the time I was growing up but I knew where he was. They used to show stuff about our troops on the news at night and I'd always be so proud that my father was apart of that. I used to watch the news for hours just to hear what had been going on in whatever part of the world my father was serving in at the time. I was so proud when I saw his face in the reports, or heard his name mentioned," Ty smiled at the memory. I hadn't the heart to stop him. I didn't want him to stop though, I wanted to hear more. I was greedy, like a child on Christmas morning.

"I remember this," Ty began again, "I used to always say, "That's my dad. Someday I want to be just like him." Mom didn't ever take me seriously but I think that deep down she always knew it was the truth. I took up various types of martial arts in preparation for the future that I so wanted to be apart of but knew was so far away. Dad came home when I was seven, finally deciding that he had had enough of wars and he wanted to spend time with his family. He taught me all of the basics he knew, he taught me harder stuff after the easy things had become too easy. He taught me foot combat and target shooting. A year later dad was offered the spot as dean at West Point. He moved the whole family up here, I can't even tell you how many hours I spent around campus when I was eight and nine," Ty said excitedly. "That's when I decided that I was going to go to West Point. I remember my dads face when I told him this one day when I was nine. His smile was bigger then I'd ever seen and he was happy.

"He sent me off to George Washington the next year. I stayed there through twelfth grade. I was accepted on early admission to West Point, they offered me a full ride scholarship actually," he grinned big. "Dad was so happy the day he found that out. I'd already been accepted hands down, I'd applied but this was before I knew they'd offer me a scholarship."

I was silent. I could not think of anything to say that would even remotely justify everything that Ty had just admitted to me. I had the feeling that he had just gotten caught up in his memories and forgot that he was talking to me at all but I didn't care. He still told all of it to me.

Ty spoke again while I was fighting for words. "So, you see, the military has always been a big part in my life. I know what you thought when I told you I've been in military training since age ten," he gave me a look; I tried not to look sheepish. "Let me assure you though that my father never forced this on me. My father was my inspiration for this life that I chose. He never forced it on Lee; he accepted it when it didn't work out for Lee. All my father has done is support my dreams and, really, that's the best thing a father can do for his son. Or any parent for their children for that matter."

"Don't you ever get sick of it though?" The question escaped my mouth before it had even registered in my mind. "I mean," I said hurriedly, "don't you ever wish that you had had a normal childhood at normal schools?"

Ty smiled in understanding. "Never," his reply was once again simple.

"Never?" I echoed. Now I was confused. "Don't you ever just want to take a break and rest?"

"No," Ty said again. "You have to understand, all I've ever wanted to do is make my father proud of me. He's the dean at West Point so he sees and knows everything that I do. I've worked so hard to achieve the respect that he has in me. He's never once favored me over the other Cadets, at school he treats me the same as the others. I know that he would never favor me and I respect him all the more for it. So, knowing that information, when he announced me at the end of last year the Commander of Cadets for our year it was the biggest honor that anyone could have given me."

I was silent and Ty laughed.

"What? Have I told you too much?" He was serious but he was still laughing.

I smiled back at him. "No. I think that everything you've told me is…" I trailed off in search of the right word to use, "amazing. I don't understand everything you've said though," I warned him. Ty just smiled. "I do have one more question though," I admitted sheepishly.

"What?" He seemed willing enough to talk to me now. I guess all we needed were some icebreakers, those games they play at camp or school so everyone can get to know each other.

"Isn't there anything else you'd ever think you'd like to do?"

"Not really. I can't see myself as a lawyer or banker or shop owner or anything like that. I don't think I'd do well in an office all day, doing paper work and wearing a suit," he shuddered. I laughed. He smiled. My stomach did that weird flippy thing until I looked away. "I do have a fair amount of medical training but I don't think I'd ever make a good doctor full time. I basically just know emergency care and that kind of thing." I nodded. "The only other thing that I'm interested in is mechanical engineering. We _can_ have more majors at West Point then just military service, you know," he laughed.

"What would you do with mechanical engineering though?" I wondered aloud.

"Well, whenever my days of active duty are over – or during them too I suppose – I'd like to help with the designing of mechanical things we use in wars, like tanks and things."

"Cool."

"Alright, now that you know all about me and I know nothing about you…" he trailed of suggestively.

I smiled slightly. There were more questions I had but I wasn't exactly comfortable voicing them aloud at that time. They would just have to wait until a later date to be answered. I also figured that I owed Ty some talking time about myself.

"Alright, well, I'm eighteen," I began with my age. "I live in Virginia; my parents have a horse rehabilitation center where they help frightened and abused horses. I help them out too. We're originally from England but we moved to Heartland after my dad was in a bad show jumping accident. It wasn't Heartland then, just my grandpa's old, out of use, cattle farm. I have a little pony named Sundance, my mom and me rescued him from an auction where he was going to be sold for glue. He's got a nasty temper with most people and all horses. He really only likes me.

"My mom's name is Marion and my dad's is Tim. I have an older sister, Lou. She's married to Scott, Heartland's longtime vet. They have a baby on the way. Lou takes care of all the bills, scheduling and that kind of stuff around Heartland." I paused. "There's not much more about me," I admitted, slightly ashamed that my life wasn't more story worthy.

"What are you majoring in at NY Tech?" He prompted me forwards as I had done with him.

"Pre-vet and business management."

"What kind of business do you want to have?" It was a reasonable question.

"Actually, I would just be taking over Heartland from my parents someday," I admitted.

Ty smiled. "That sounds nice," he said. "It sounds like you have a nice, laid back life," he commented.

I snorted.

"What?" he was confused again.

"My life is the last thing in the world from laid back," I told him.

"How so?"

"Well, we have two barns of horses that need exercising and working everyday. They all have problems that time has to be devoted to healing. You have to be patient with them and sometimes it's a long, slow process but it's always worth it. There are the rescue horses that have to be re-homed. And school of course."

"But you love it all."

"I do," I admitted with a smile, suddenly missing Heartland and all of the horses there. "I wouldn't change a thing about it," I told him honestly.

Our food arrived then and we ate, talking about little things here and there. Now when the silence fell over us it more comfortable then it had been before. Once we were done, Ty paid the bill and left the tip. I protested, trying to offer to at least leave the tip but Ty wouldn't have it.

I didn't like him paying for me. It made this whole thing seem like a date. And this most certainly was NOT a date. The farthest thing from it, in fact. A pity dinner still was high in my list.

He opened the door to the restaurant as we left and then the door to his Escalade EXT. The drive back to campus was fast. He walked me back to the door of my room.

"Well," he said as he turned to me, his face and shoulders lit up in the light from the lamps hanging on the walls, "tonight was fun," he offered me a smile that I was hesitant to return but did return nonetheless.

"Yeah," I agreed feebly.

"I'll call you later, okay?"

I nodded; I didn't allow myself to verbally respond his question. I had a feeling that I would say something wrong. But why did I even care if I told him to bugger off and never bother me again?

I _hated_ him. Alright, so maybe now it was diminished to more of a 'strong dislike'. BUT that did not mean that he was suddenly on my favorite people list. He was far from it actually. He was just slightly more tolerable now then he had been.

"Goodnight."

"G'night," I echoed, my thoughts still a blur.

And then he turned around and walked away. Just like that. He just walked away.

And then it happened again. My heart did that inexcusable, totally out of place flip.

**a/n: **excellent? Good? Okay? Bad? Horrible? You can let me know what you thought in a REVIEW! And read my latest Heartland story, Rodeo Stoner… leave a review while you're at it, too! -Steph


	8. Chapter 6

**a/n: **Review! Oh, and just a little note, I know that my geography and layout of West Point and the town I've created aren't all going to be accurate but I'm just making it a way that works for this story. And all the traditions and ways and all that good stuff of West Point aren't going to be totally accurate… Just so you don't think that I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about…

-Steph

**Disclaimer: **Based loosely off of the Heartland series by Lauren Brooke. She owns what she owns and I own what I own.

**West Point**

**Chapter Six**

It goes without saying that among most friends there are certain topics that are left alone and not spoken of.

Apparently this was not the case with Kat and me though.

Kat was true to her word and was not in our dorm when I got back last night. I was kind of thankful for that, it gave me the chance to just think without being grilled for information on the night.

But, Kat decided to make her reappearance at a very bad time the next morning. It was nine o'clock, right in the middle of prime sleeping hours, when she burst into the dorm and flung open the door to my room without so much as a knock.

"Wake up!" she sang out in a very awake voice as she skipped into my room.

I groaned and pulled the covers over my head.

"Up, up, up!" God, she really sounded like my mother right then. It was scary.

"Go _away_," I moaned.

"Nope, sorry, not until you get up."

"Why?" my voice was muffled by the pillow.

"Because," Kat said. "Now, you have two minutes to get up and get dressed or else I'm coming in here and hiding all of your covers, kay?"

I grunted and burrowed further under my covers. So warm… "HEY!" I yelped when the warmth was replaced with cold air. My eyes cracked open just in time to see Kat walking out of my little room with a mound of blankets in her arms and trailing behind her on the floor.

"I told you I'd do it!" she called back.

"That wasn't two minutes."

"It was close enough."

"It was more like two seconds."

Kat walked back into my room and leaned against the doorframe. "Get up." I didn't move. "Or I'll find something else to take," she began surveying my room and I reluctantly pulled myself into a sitting position, my legs crossed Indian style in the center of my bed. "Good," Kat grinned. I glared. "Now get dressed." She turned out of my room and closed the door behind her.

"Why?" I yelled through the closed door, not moving my position on my bed an inch.

"Because it's Saturday and there are things to be done!" Kat called back. "Besides sleeping all day!" she beat me to it. "Hurry up! We're meeting Mel, Julie and Stevie in five minutes!"

I groaned, arguing would do me no good, even I knew that. So, still half asleep, I somehow managed to get off of my bed and get dressed in a pair of dark washed jeans that fit perfectly but were somehow a bit long and a plain, light blue thermal long-sleeved shirt. I pulled on my socks and shoes and brushed my hair quickly, knotting it behind my head without much care. I trudged out of my room and into the bathroom to brush my teeth and take care of all my other morning stuff.

"Get a jacket, it's pretty cool out," Kat called over her shoulder to me from her spot on the couch as I went back to my room.

I grabbed my black wool bomber with a faux fur trimmed hood and my small, black bag and went back out to meet Kat by the door.

"This better be good," I grumbled as she dragged me out of the door and out of our dorm building.

"Oh, it will be," Kat assured me happily as we stepped outside.

Kat was right, it was _cold_. Why? It was only like September ninth. It was horrible. It was still technically summer.

We met Mel, Julie and Stevie out front of our dorm building.

Mel hurried immediately over to me and pulled me away from Kat. She put her arm around my shoulders and steered me along with her.

"So," she nudged me in the side, "tell me what happened."

I feigned stupidity. "What?"

"Come on, Amy," she grinned, "you know what I'm talking about. Tell me about your date with Ty!"

"It wasn't a date," I muttered.

"Oh, really?" Mel didn't believe me. "Did he pick you up?"

"Yes."

"Did he drive you?"

"Yes," I mumbled, not liking where this was going.

"Did he open doors for you?" she pressed on. I really did not like where this was going.

"Yes."

"And, did he pay for dinner?"

I was silent for a second. "Yes," I finally said.

"And, finally, did he say he'd call you?"

"Yes."

"And did you say okay?"

"Yes."

"Then," Mel said happily, "it _was_ a date and now you have to tell me all about it."

"There's nothing to tell." I tried to shrug off her arm and walk ahead a little faster but that didn't exactly work out as I had planned.

"I presume he's still alive?" She inquired casually. What a question to ask! It had absolutely now… alright, so maybe it did have _some_ basis but that was _not_ that point.

"Yes," I resorted back to my favorite answer once again.

"Exactly," Mel smiled big. "And it is that little fact alone that leads me to believe that something did, indeed happen."

"And why would you presume something like that?" I was stupid enough to ask.

"Well," Mel began and, I knew with just that one word that I had just asked for it and was getting it handed to me with toppings. "All you've done is claim to hate him _but_ you agreed to go out with him. And then, you act like going out with him is some great pain to you but when I ask you what happened, you act like a little, star struck girl who's trying to pretend that nothing happened when really, something did."

I take it back, I was wrong. I didn't get it handed to me with toppings, hell, I just got it handed to me with toppings, condiments and every freaking thing in the world attached.

"You are completely wrong," I said shortly.

"Am I?" Mel asked purely for the affect in the current situation. "Because I really don't think I am."

"Well you are," I shot back oh so maturely.

"Alright, Amy," Mel laughed like this was all some big, funny joke. But, come to think of it, I suppose this _was_ all kind of a joke to her. She probably thought the same as that stupid waitress last night, how could someone like me ever end up with the guy like Ty? I wasn't quite sure whether to feel relived or insulted at that though… but those were thoughts that led to thoughts that were most certainly (without a single, little doubt) that I did not want to have.

Because, why would I even want to waste my sweet time thinking about _him_? Exactly. There was _no_ reason.

And then I realized that Mel was still talking. "… tell me or I can get him to tell me. It's your choice." I got the gist of it.

"Fine," I sighed reluctantly. She would have gotten then information from Ty since, apparently, he and Mel were tight but, who was I kidding, she'd make me tell her too. It was all just so much easier if I told her then. I could let Ty deal with her next… not that I cared, or anything… and that made no sense so I'm just going to shut-up now.

So, I gave Mel a vague—forgoing details such as what he had told me, what I told him and other things—outline of our night. I didn't go into detail; she didn't need to hear it all. It all worked out alright though, since by the time I was done, we had reached Oaks Dinner, that little restaurant that we had gone to before the…

Actually, those were thoughts that I really did not have to have at the moment. Besides, I had told myself that I wouldn't ever think about that night again, didn't I? Well, even if I didn't, I'm telling myself now.

"Why are we here?" I asked bluntly as I found myself being directed through the doors.

"Because," Mel said, "they're the only decent place in town to grab a good breakfast." I detected the faint hint of a hidden agenda in her voice. Oh, how I hated hidden agendas. In fact, I hated them with a passion. Did Mel know that? Apparently not.

"And…?" I prompted her forwards wearily.

"All in do time, Amy," Mel grinned at me as we followed the others to a table.

"Did you know that I hate hidden agendas?" I asked as I took my seat in between Mel and Stevie.

"What would make you think that I had a hidden agenda?" Mel asked innocently.

"Well," I began slowly, "other then the fact that you just said 'all in do time'?"

Mel laughed. "It's just a little surprise, Amy."

"Did you know that I hate surprises too?" Well, it was true for the most part. I suppose that not all surprises out there are bad but, I wasn't partial to them on a regular basis and I felt that, even at the time, I was safe to assume that this surprise would not be one that I would be thanking them for later.

"This one's for your own good," Julie said from across the table.

For my own good? Oh yeah, that made me feel so much better.

We ate our breakfast, the conversation carrying on in directions that didn't include me and a certain somebody as the center of attention. I was incredibly grateful for that. After we had eaten and each dished over our own fare for breakfast, I was herded back outside in a rush.

"Whoa, what's the rush?" I laughed lightly as Mel grabbed my arm to pull me out of the door of the restaurant.

Mel glanced quickly at her watch. "Come on," she pulled me by the arm and the others followed behind. "We have to hurry or we'll miss them."

"Miss who?" I wondered aloud. My question received no answer and, quite frankly, maybe no answer was better seeing as I had a feeling that I would not like the person that filled the 'who' spot.

Mel finally stopped her mad rush once we were back in that little park that they had taken me and Kat to our first day on the NY Tech campus. I pulled the sleeves of my jacket down and over my hands as we sat on the cold, hard ground under what had become 'our tree'.

"You know," I remarked sarcastically after a moment of just sitting there had past, "its not exactly prime weather for just sitting in the park… under a tree…"

"Shush," Mel waved a hand blindly at me. She wasn't looking at me, she was looking off up the street, I tried to look and see what she was seeing but I couldn't see anything. I leant back against the rough bark of the tree with a sigh, pulling my knees up to my chest and examining my finger nails with great interest.

I was in the middle over debating what color I wanted to paint my nails, or if I even wanted to paint them at all when Mel burst out, "Oh! Here they come!"

Stevie, Kat and Julie all snapped to attention at Mel's words. I just glanced up briefly and scanned the area. Um… okay? The same people who had been in the park before were still there… the same tourists still wandered around… there wasn't anything new… well, there was a squirrel that I hadn't seen before sitting atop the bench but I highly doubted that that was what Mel was so excited about.

"Who are 'they'?" I asked tiredly as I went back to examining my nails.

If I had really taken the time to pay attention to anything around me, then I would have easily remembered that there was really only one thing that I had ever seen Mel so excited about before. And, that had been on my first day here when the West Point guys—and girls—had arrived. But, oh no, Amy Fleming is not that perceptive in the mornings. It wasn't actually until I heard the pounding of feet on the pavement and laughter that I actually looked up.

It was a group of guys— there might have been about twenty or so of them—running down the street.

"So what?" I asked, my brain still not totally functioning as I watched the group of guys stop their run. Some began to stretch and others fell down onto the grass. "Sorry to disappoint, Mel," I decided to try my hand at being funny, "but it's too cold for them to run without shirts." See? It should have been funny… right? Yeah, well, I didn't get any acknowledgement for my efforts. And it just had to be right then that I decided to look up.

I scanned the group of guys—and this time it really was all guys—that had just crashed our party (ha-ha, funny, right?), trying to find anything remarkably remarkable about them but failing. Sure, they were all rather good looking and tall and fit but they looked just like most other guys… except they were maybe a little bit more fit then your average guy… well, maybe a little bit more then a little bit. Alright, and so maybe they did look a little bit better then most guys I'd seen but that meant nothing.

And then my eyes landed on one guy in particular and, I swear that freaking guy is stalking me or something. He was turned around with his back to me but I'd recognize that _back_ anywhere. I mean, I had tou… oh, never mind. Those were thoughts that would only harm me in the long run, I was much safer steering clear and way wide of them and anything related to them.

"Would you care to explain to me why we are here?" I crossed my legs to sit Indian style and dropped my hands to my lap.

"It's the West Point boys' varsity soccer team," Stevie informed me since Mel was too occupied with staring.

"Greeeeat," I muttered sarcastically, "and _he_ just so _happens_ to be on the team, I suppose."

"He's a Black Knight," Mel informed me. "Isn't that _hot_," she kind of prolonged that one word. I watched as a tall, well built guy with very nice blonde hair waved in our direction, Mel returned his wave with a coy little grin on her face. Three guesses as to what they had going on. Hell, all I needed was one guess after I saw the looks on their faces.

"Um… very?" I guessed.

"You've got that right," Mel finally turned back to face the rest of us.

"And I care why exactly?"

Mel rolled her eyes. When she continued, it wasn't exactly in a way that would answer my question; it more went off in a direction that would allow her to explain things that she clearly enjoyed. "At West Point," she began, "they have to do wrestling, swimming, karate, gymnastics and all that other stuff, like, with guns and swords and all that," she waved it off with a quick wave of her hand. "_But_," oh, boy, here we go, "they have to play sports too. He plays soccer, sprint football, lacrosse _and_ he horseback rides."

"And are we talking about Ty Baldwin here or Mystery Blonde over there?" I jerked my head in the relative direction of where the guys were either stretching or lounging.

"Why would I be talking about Devon?" Mel wondered aloud, looking—God, held the poor girl—genuinely confused.

"Devon?" I echoed, not quite catching on to the fact that that was the name of the blonde Mel had been making eyes at until she told me as much… just with the 'making eyes at' part. "Oh, um, well, anyone would guess that you two were toget—"

"Together?" Mel laughed. "Me and Devon? Gosh, Amy! You are just so funny!"

Um… okay? I decided that asking anymore questions on the Devon/Mel matter wouldn't be in my best interest at the moment so I remained silent until Mel gathered herself up enough to actually answer my question.

"Alright," Mel began once her laughter had quieted a bit, "why would I be telling you all of that about some guy that you don't even know?" She didn't even give me a chance to try and get a word in edge wise. "I was talking about your Mr. Baldwin."

"He's not _my_ Mr. Baldwin," I informed her quickly.

"Well, maybe I'm trying to make it that way," Mel said quickly.

I stared at her for a minute, too shocked to even do anything. "What?" I finally asked.

"Why did you think I dragged you and everyone else all the way out here today?"

"I had previously assumed that the answer to that question was to get some breakfast but I guess that that isn't quite all you had in mind."

"You're right. I knew the soccer team would be out running and I thought that I'd bring you out so that we could all conveniently run into Ty and you could stop being so damn stubborn about not liking him because you obviously do."

"Excuse me?" I was more then a little annoyed by that point.

"It really is obvious that you like him, Amy," Mel said. "You just don't seem to realize it yet. Ty likes you and I'm pretty sure that he knows it so I'm just trying to help you two along."

"We don't need any helping," I said slowly, "because we aren't anything and never will be!"

"We can all see it, Amy."

"Really?" I reaching the verge of hysterical by that point, I was surprised that more attention hadn't been drawn to us. "Do you all agree with her?" I swept my hand around our little group indicating Julie, Stevie and Kat. To my utter astonishment and horror, they all nodded back.

I slumped back against the tree. "Well, isn't that just great. Everyone thinks I like a guy that I don't."

"I propose a little test," Mel said after several minutes of silence had passed.

"A test of what?" I asked carefully, I had a strong feeling that I was not going to like what was going to come next.

"A test of the legitimacy of you saying that you do not like Ty Baldwin," Mel challenged me with her gaze.

See? I knew I wasn't going to like it. And, I had a feeling that I was going to like the answer to my next question even less then I had liked the one to my previous question. "Fine, what's the test?"

"You have to go over there," she pointed to where Ty was standing with a group of guys, "and kiss Ty."

Say what? Now I was expecting something bad but I wasn't exactly expecting _that_. "Sorry," I laughed, "I'm afraid I miss heard you, would you care to repeat that?"

"I said," Mel grinned, "that the test is for you to go over there and kiss Ty."

Yep, definitely what I heard before. The smile slid right off of my face. "You're joking, right?"

"I most certainly am not."

I frowned. "That's the stupidest test ever. How is kissing him going to prove that I don't like him? The only thing that anyone is going to think from it is that I'm some slut who just walks up to random guys and kisses them."

"Well, Amy, you see, it's like this…" time for some more Mel Logic. "If you do go up and kiss him and don't feel anything then I'll know that I was wrong and I will admit it. But, if you can't do it then I'll know that you're nervous and worried that your just going up to him and kissing him would affect his opinion of you. If you can't do it, you like him but, if you can do it, you don't like him. If you do, do it, then you pass the test but if you can't do it, then you fail."

That was the worst logic I had ever heard in my life. It made absolutely no sense at all… but, at the same it made all the sense in the world. Weird. Well, Mel Logic can have that affect of ones brain.

"And if I kiss him them you'll never talk about him ever again around me?"

"Deal."

"Alright then," I stood up and brushed the dirt off of my butt. "Wish me luck," and, with that I walked away. I was forced to listen to Mel's, Julie's, Stevie's and Kat's laughter for a good while before I finally just blocked it all out.

As I walked slowly towards Ty and his little group of about five guys I couldn't believe what I had just gotten myself into. This was ridiculous; I shouldn't have to do this. Who cared what Mel and the others thought? All that mattered was what I thought—_knew_, right? And I knew that there was not a snowballs chance in hell that I had even the tiniest feelings for this guy.

And yet, I was still walking.

Every step that I took brought me closer to a fate that I didn't know at the time.

I was walking slowly, but I seemed to reach Ty in no time at all.

His back was still to me, he didn't even know that I was there. That little fact would have been enough for me to just disappear, but I didn't. I stood a few feet behind him but made no move or motion to alert him of my presence. Finally, one of the guys he was talking to noticed me.

"Uh, Ty?" he said and jerked his head in my direction.

I realized just how hard my heart was actually beating as Ty turned around.

As I came face to face—it was actually more like face to chest seeing as he was so much taller then me— with Ty and my eyes met those cursed emerald eyes of his that something in my chest did that weird flippy thing again.

Perfect.

"Hey! Amy!" he seemed genuinely pleased to see me there, not creped out to find out that I had just been standing behind him as I had half expected.

"Um, hi," I said lamely. I shifted uncomfortably, feeling my cheeks grown embarrassingly warm. Ty's friends watched us curiously and I couldn't even look behind me to see what my own friends looked like.

"Sorry," Ty said after a second, "can I, uh, help you with something?"

"Oh, no, sorry," I said quickly. "You must be busy, I'll just…"

"No!" Ty jumped in quickly. "That's not what I meant. I was just kind of shocked to see you here since, you know, you've never really seemed to want to be in my company." My heart or stomach or whatever it was flipped again at the look on his ace when he said those words.

STOP IT!

"Oh yeah, sorry, I…" I trailed off and Ty watched me expectantly.

There was only so long that I could just stand there silently, staring up at him. I could both go through with Mel's ridiculous test and kiss him to prove that I had no feelings at all for him, or I could make some lame excuse and walk away.

I'd thought it was all so obvious before but now my reserve faltered.

In the end, it turned out that I couldn't do it. Kiss him I mean. I just… couldn't. It was all so stupid.

I ended up making that lame excuse in my defense. "Oh yeah, uh, sorry. I just came over to, you know, say hi and… I have to go now, work to do and all... Bye."

And then I walked away, my heart still pounding and my cheeks still flushed.

Ty called a hurried, "Bye!" after me.

I couldn't even look at Mel and Kat and Julie and Stevie as I approached, my gaze stayed firmly fixed on the ground.

I had just failed Mel's test.

**a/n: **okay, so I did not expect that. I knew the beginning and I knew that there was going to be something with Ty but I didn't know this was going to happen… oh well. It all works out I guess. Hope it was good and that enjoyed it! It's really late and I want to go to sleep but I want to post too so pardon my lack of editing… not that I ever edit… I'll work on it next time! TP is next and then RS! Review! -Steph


	9. Chapter 7

**Authors Note—**I'm getting really into this story again so here's another update. I'm not quite sure about this chapter but here goes anyways… oh yes, and I might have made up a lot about West Point in this chapter but that's alright. Review!

-Steph

**Disclaimer: **I think we have already established that Lauren Brooke owns everything that she owns and I own everything that I own, kay?

**West Point**

**Chapter Seven**

I expected something when I sat back down in my spot under the tree. Quite honestly, I was fully prepared and waiting for a big "I told you so" or at least _something_. After several minutes of nothing had gone by I was practically begging for someone to say something… anything! Because, if someone had said something then it would have made everything seem less… real.

But, then again, it was only true according to Mel Logic. _I_ never said that I—someone help me—liked him. No, I've never said anything even remotely resembling that message… Just because I can't walk up to a random guy—well, he's not that random—and kiss him does _not_ mean that I—shudder—like him.

If I had a shit list, Ty Baldwin would be right up there with... well, since I've never felt the need for a shit list I don't know exactly who would be at the top but I'm positive that Ty Baldwin would be somewhere… closer to the top then to the bottom.

"Well," I finally said, standing up and brushing my hands off slowly, "I've got work to do so I'm just going to go now. Bye."

I'd almost gotten to the edge of the park when my name was yelled out. It was Kat. Of course, her raised voice succeeded in gathering more attention to me as I tried to walk away and I purposefully avoided looking at the bench where I knew Ty was standing.

"Amy!" Kat said again as she ran up to me. I didn't acknowledge her or slow down but she quickly caught up with me and fell into step besides me.

"Look," she said after a moment, "Mel's just… _Mel_." Oh, very descriptive. "Don't listen to her, really. Mel Logic has gotten me into so much trouble in the past. You've gotten out of it relatively harm free," she mussed.

I snorted. "Harm free? Right. Harm free. I just made a total fool of myself in front of Ty and all his friends."

"Well so what?" Kat _actually_ said.

"So _what_?" I repeated in astonishment. "I just acted totally stupid in front of a bunch of guys who I'm going to see around for the next four years. That's so what."

"Yeah," Kat agreed. "But you said Ty," she pointed out.

I felt like shrinking. "Well I only used him so I could categorize the people he was with," I tried to lamely defend myself.

"You know, sometimes Mel Logic is actually pretty spot on," Kat said.

"Excuse me?"

"Well," Kat said slowly, obviously choosing her next words very carefully now that she had entered _very_ dangerous waters. "I guess it _was_ a bit extreme and a _lot_ of girls wouldn't be able to just kiss any guy because they didn't _like_ them but…"

"You'd better not be going where I think you're going," I warned her.

"I'm just saying," Kat said, "that couldn't there possibly be a teeny tiny, itsy bitsy, almost minuscule of course," she added with a quick glance at me, "part of you that could poss_ibly_ like him?"

"No," I responded simply without pausing to think for even half a second.

"Well is there any reason why you wouldn't like him?" Kat ventured without, I'm presuming, thinking about it first. I shot her a look that quickly righted it though. "I mean besides _that_."

"Let me put it like this," I offered. "Is there any reason why I would like him?"

"Well I thought you said that he was pretty nice and all when you guys went out yesterday. And he said he'd call you…"

"Most guys say they'll call you after a—" I abruptly stopped that train of thought.

"Ah ha!" Kat exclaimed triumphantly and threw her arms up in the air. "You were about to say date!"

"I was not," I protested feebly. I looked down at the ground.

Kat looked at me intently for a moment. "You _do_ like him, don't you?" she asked incredulously.

"Um…" I said. "No."

"You know," Kat said. "I actually think that Mel's right for once."

I rolled my eyes. "You're all crazy," I told her. "I do not now, or ever will, like Ty Baldwin. He's totally not my type and he's three years older then me."

"So?" Kat blinked. "And Ty Baldwin is _every_ girl's type."

"Well he's not _this_ girl's type."

Kat groaned. "You are too stubborn for your own good, Amy."

"I don't have anything to be stubborn over!" I said in exasperation. "I don't like the guy, okay? Sure, he's more tolerable after last night but I hate him. H-A-T-E hate him. Okay?"

"Okay, Amy," Kat said. Clearly she still did not believe me.

I didn't know how to make it much clearer then I already had. Well, aside from yelling at the top of my lungs for every NY Tech/West Point student and the added tourists or teacher to hear: I HATE TY BALDWIN! Somehow I did not think that that would go over well.

They gave detentions in college, right?

"Well," Kat's light voice drew me back into our argument.

I did not like that way she said that 'well' at all. "Well what?" I came close to snapping.

She glanced at me quickly before looking away. Yep. I definitely had a bad feeling about this.

"If you're serious about not liking him," she said. I rolled my eyes but resisted the urge to argue with her once again. A girls gotta know when she's fighting a loosing battle. "Then you may not like what Mel's got planned for you tonight."

&

Kat had been right. I would not like what Mel had planned for me one bit. But at no time had I ever imagined that it would have been as bad as it was.

You see, somehow I was conveniently unaware of the fall ball at West Point. And I swear that that's what Mel called it: The Fall Ball. She made it sound like they were capitals, too. I swear… fall ball? Not even going to go into it.

But I guess just because I didn't _know_ about didn't mean that I wasn't _going_.

Somehow I always manage to make friends with the people that do this kind of thing. I couldn't get the nice senior, could I? Oh no. I got the crazy psycho one that seems infatuated with my current—or lack of—love life. Add her crazy friends and equally psycho sister into the mix and you had a whole little party. Well, everyone else be_sides_ me seemed to think it was all just a fun little party.

Kat had probably been just a distraction so that Mel, Stevie and Laura could sneak back to the dorms to ambush me the moment Kat and I got there. Ambushed might not even be strong enough. Maybe abducted would work better.

I knew that something was seriously up when Kat and I got back to the dorm and Kat locked the door behind her. Okay, so there's nothing wrong with locking a door but when you pull the bolt and chain and then station yourself in front of the door? Yeah. Just a tad bit fishy.

And then I turned around and saw Mel, Laura and Stevie standing there and grinning. Like mad scientist grinning. It was crazy.

And then in the midst of all the poking and the scrubbing and primping I was vaguely told that The Fall Ball was tonight at West Point and that it was West Point's annual fall dance. Oh, and it was formal dress—ie. girls wear ball gowns—and I had a date. Yippee.

I'd been objected to it from the start but the odds weren't quite even. Four to one? I didn't stand a chance with the army of girls with flat irons and curling irons and heels and makeup. To put it simply and to spare all the gory details: I was overpowered and dressed against my will. I had been wrestled into a long, silky black gown that had skinny little straps and the top of the bodice was beaded with silver and gold beads. The rest was the black silk and it made me look like I had curves that I didn't and it fell in pools around my feet to the ground. The dress was backless and the skirt only started right above my butt. They left my hair down the makeup was, thankfully, not over the top. The heels were practically an invitation to go to the ER.

And then the others went and got dressed in shifts so that I was never left without at least two 'supervisors'. That's what they called them anyway. They seemed a bit more like prison guards to me.

Somehow, I ended up at West Point. It was the first time I'd ever been there but it hardly even registered. I didn't notice the great stone buildings or the immaculate grounds. Everything felt like… well, it felt like I was in some crazy dream.

We entered the front hall of the main building and there was a lot of stone and marble and portraits of a bunch of guys. Past deans and people like George Washington. There were class pictures, too.

I was dragged, with Mel on one arm and Kat on the other, to another big room where I suppose the 'ball' was. Laura and Stevie were right there to grab my feet it if I stopped walking so I didn't ever try to the 'dead weight' game. It wouldn't have worked.

In the main room where the ball was, there were a lot of girls and a lot of guys. Well, DUH. That was kind of the point of dances/balls. It wouldn't have been very appealing if it was only for one sex… well unless it was a gay bar or something.

All the girls were done up all nice their gowns while the guys wore their formal uniforms. The West Point guys were at least. The few NY Tech guys that were there just wore suits and ties and the works.

"So, remind me again why I'm here?" I asked uselessly once again as I was dragged around the perimeter of the room.

"To have a good time," Mel answered as she scanned the crowd.

"Uh huh," I said disbelievingly. "I doubt that that's all you have planned for me. Don't you guys have, like, any dates or anything?" I asked.

"Yes," Mel said simply and, for once, didn't offer any other information.

"Well why am I here?" I demanded. "I didn't even know about this ball thingy so I definitely don't have a date which make this whole thing rather pointless really."

"You have a date," Mel said.

"Excuse me?"

"You have a date," she repeated as I was towed forwards some more. "Ah ha, there he is," Mel said triumphantly.

I looked to where she was looking and felt like hiding in a hole or throwing myself in front of those rather old looking cannons I'd seen outside. I wondered if any of those rifles on the walls in the first room had any bullets in them.

We were approaching a small circle of about five guys, all in uniform, and four girls, all dressed up perfectly. They all looked like models.

But I could have cared less about any of them. My eyes landed on one of the guys in particular. His back was to me but who could forget that dark hair that curled the littlest bit at the nape of his neck? Or how those shoulders filled out that gray jacket or how good those white pants and tall boots made his… ahem. I mean, if his laugh wasn't enough. He was holding his hat in his white gloved hand by his… ahem, muscular thigh.

"Ty!" Mel called out as we approached. I groaned. Now it was really true. At least I'd been able to hope a little bit that it wasn't him. I mean, there had to be more guys that looked good in uniform at West Point, right? Well duh there were.

Ty spun around on the heel of one of those perfectly polished boots and face us. His emerald eyes were sparkling and he was smiling. I could have screamed when he looked me up and down. At least his eyes didn't linger noticeably on any particular places. That really could have got me going.

"Oh you guys are so going to die later," I hissed as Ty had the gal to look slightly taken aback when I glared at him.

Mel laughed brightly and patted the arm the she still held tightly. "You'll thank me one day," she said in a softer voice. "We're just helping you guys along."

"I'm still going to kill you," I said around an obviously false smile.

"Be a good girl," Mel hissed back. She raised her voice to address Ty. "Your date, monsieur," she shoved me forwards and then curtsied.

"Why thank you, mademoiselle," Ty said in that stupid voice of his and bowed slightly. Why did his voice have to sound like that? I was not fair at all. maybe if he had had greasy hair, pimples, braces, huge glasses, man boobs and a high, girlish voice then it would have been easier to hate him as much as he deserved right then. No such luck on any account though. He just had to be so damn perfect… appearance wise that is. His personality and attitude left much to be desired.

The rest of Ty's group wisely drifted away. Maybe they anticipated a scene. Something that should have rightfully happened.

Mel, Kat, Stevie and Laura also fled the scene. Ty looked a bit unsure of himself but walked up to me and offered me his arm. I stared at him for a second. I seriously contemplated using my outrageous heels for good and stomping on his foot and then storming away. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not after I met his eyes and my stomach did that stupid flippy thing.

I slipped my arm through his and tried to touch him as little as possible as he led me to… somewhere. It wasn't exactly possible to not touch him though since there were a lot of people. I ended up nothing short of touching him more then I had wanted.

"Do you want to dance?" He asked me and I could see that we were already headed to the dance floor. There was some string quartet plus a piano playing but there was also a station set up for a DJ. The whole thing was a bit to Jane Austen-ish for my liking.

"Sure," I consented since I really didn't have a choice. I mean I could have, again, stomped on his foot and ran away or yell something to the affect of 'RAPE!' or 'FIRE!' or, my personal favorite, 'STRANGER!'

I placed one hand on Ty's shoulder and tried my hardest not to wince at the contact. All thoughts of running away were then crushed. I had no choice if his arms were really as strong as they felt. I placed my other hand in his and he put his other hand on my back. I was relived that he wasn't trying to grope me or anything. It was a respectable distance up my back without making him seem like a prude. I was okay with that.

I concentrated on not stepping on his feet, something that completely went against my better judgment and previous plan of escape. We danced in silence for a few minutes. I watched the dancing couples around us that actually looked like they wanted to be there and with each other. Lucky buggers.

"Please don't think that I put them up to this," Ty's voice was surprising low and close to my ear. My stomach flipped worse then before and I unconsciously gripped his shoulder a little harder. His breath was warm against my neck and his sent was near overpowering. I tried my hardest to focus on what he was saying. "I think that I've been through much the same as you have to be here right now."

I had to take a moment to think before I could respond. I cleared my throat, my silence felt stupid and I dreaded to look at his face incase he might have realized the affect his closeness was having on me.

"Um, I don't think you're friends did what Mel and Kat and the others did to me," I assured him. It sounded stupid after I'd had time to think back over it but it was too late to take it back. "Unless they like to do your makeup and hair," I tried to fix it but only made it worse. I refused to look at him once again. How embarrassing, I never could manage to sound halfway intelligent around the guy.

Ty surprised me by laughing softly. His voice was still near my ear and as if that wasn't distracting enough, his shoulder moved under my hand.

"They don't," he said after a moment of soft laughter. I shifted his head a little and then, as a bit of his silky hair brushed against my cheek, I realized how close we were standing and how close my face was to his, he'd bent his forwards so he could talk softly without anyone overhearing. My stomach jumped hard at that information. The room suddenly felt a whole lot hotter.

"Well," I tried to start a halfway intelligent sentence but failed miserably when I could not come up with a second word. I stared at his shoulder and, before I could comprehend just what it was I was doing, ran my finger along the seam of his jacket. I could have slapped myself right there.

Ty, if he'd noticed by actions, didn't acknowledge them. I could have kissed him for it… not really though. It's just an expression.

"I know you don't want to be here," Ty continued, still painfully close to my ear. My stomach just wouldn't stop. "If you want I'll take you home now and cover for you with Mel," he offered graciously.

I looked up at him quickly. Something that proved to be a huge mistake. Given our already extremely close proximity, the sudden movement just caused me to hit my head against me. It didn't hurt as much as the mortification did. I blushed redder then I thought a person could.

I had no choice to look at Ty now. "Oh god," I said, horrified, "I'm so sorry."

"It's no problem," Ty said. I risked a glance up passed the mouth that had curved up into a small smile. His eyes were still that magnificent emerald color and they were bright. I gulped. "My offer still stands, you know," he thankfully drew the attention away from my clumsy moment.

I didn't know what to say. It was, of course, the perfect way to get out of that evening but I couldn't quite bring myself to accept the offer. Instead, I just stared at him for a moment and my stomach did that flip thing again. I wished it would stop harder then ever. Every time it happened I blushed a little. I was sure that Ty noticed it.

"Um," I said slowly, trying to find my voice. "I…"

Ty smiled. "Think about it," he said. I nodded before looking away from his eyes and over his shoulder. Mel, Laura and Stevie were standing on the edge of the dance floor with three guys dressed in uniform. They were all watching me though.

Ty saw them watching us, too, and then leaned closer to me again so that he could speak in my ear. "I promise I won't let Mel come after you." And it was just the way he said it, so seriously, that made me start laughing. Not full out, knee slapping laughter. God, that would have been embarrassing. It was what I like to call it, more 'lady-like' laughter, just not the weak twittery crap.

I realized that Ty was just watching me and abruptly stopped. How stupid could I make myself seem before the evening was over? Apparently I could make myself seem very stupid.

The song changed then but the music stayed slow. Ty's hand slipped around my back some more, and if that wasn't cue enough for some serious stomach flipping, then when he pulled me a little closer to him definitely was. I'd barely managed with the little space between us before, but now that I was closer to him breathing became a major concern. The temperature of the room seemed to sky rocket and I briefly wondered how he could stand it in that uniform. I instantly became conscious of my hand in his and the feel of his cotton glove on my bare back.

"You know," he said with his face painfully close to mine, "you really do look amazing tonight." His voice was low and husky and I could hardly stand it, my stomach was about to jump out of my throat.

Somehow I managed to regain enough self-control to take a step away from him. Ty looked at me questioningly and I realized I needed to say something. "I think I need something to drink," was what I managed.

Ty nodded and led me over to a table on the side of the room. I got myself a glass of Sprite and was thankful for the cool, fizzing liquid as it slid down my throat. I leaned back against the wall and the marble felt refreshingly cool against the burning skin of my back.

I felt eyes on me and snapped out of my own little world to see Ty watching me. I quickly looked away again and took a rather large gulp of Sprite as I remembered how his hands, albeit gloved, had felt on my back and how his tall and strong frame and shielded me away from everything else.

I couldn't stomach anymore of the soda so I set my cup on the edge of the drink table.

Ty stepped closer to me I stopped myself from stepping farther down the wall.

He held out his hand to me and looked at me with a mischievous glint in his emerald eyes. "Come on," he said. "I want to show you something." I stared at him for a second. He laughed and then said, "I promise you'll like it." He moved his hand and my attention focused on it.

I glanced up at him briefly once before I carefully placed my hand in his. His gloved fingers closed around my much smaller ones. He led me out of the ballroom and I thought I'd break my ankle trying to keep up with him. He led me through a hallway and back through the main room and down another hallway. There weren't any other people around at that point and I started to get a little scared. Nevertheless, I kept on following him and didn't protest. All my good judgment seemed to fail me when I was with him. It had already gotten me into so much trouble and I desperately hoped that it wouldn't get me into worse.

Somehow, through the maze of hallways and rooms and doors, we ended up outside. We were on a stoned terrace that had wrought iron railings along the sides and steps in the center. The steps led down to a large fountain. In the middle of the fountain were several men on horseback. The men were clearly army guys and the horses had that majestic-ness and beauty that I'd always thought stone horses had. The water fell with a light patter into the main pool below the statues and the water was clear, lit with lights under the surface.

"It's beautiful," I whispered. I felt Ty's thumb tracing circles on my hand and I shivered.

Ty, who somewhat misinterpreted my shiver, let go of my hand and started to unbutton his jacket. I had it in my right mind to run away when he took it off. As it was, I just stared at him. Under the jacket he just wore a plain white shirt. The thin material clung to his perfect torso and really left nothing of what was under it to the imagination. He held it out to me but I was too busy staring at his chest to even notice it until he'd draped it over my shoulders.

My hands flew up to touch the material of the jacket. It felt good against my shoulders. I tried to take it off to hand it back to him but his hands on top of mine on the shoulders of the jacket stopped me. "Keep it," he insisted. "You're cold. I forgot you didn't have a jacket."

The cool air had hardly bothered me before but now I realized that it was a bit chilly out. Still I shook my head adamantly and went to take the jacket off but his hands pressed down a bit harder on mine. "But won't you be cold?" I asked instead.

"I'll be fine," Ty assured me with a smile and only removed his hands from mine when he was sure I'd keep the jacket. He offered me his arm again and I slipped mine through his and he led me down the stairs and across the terrace down to the fountains side. We stood side by side and looked at it. The men and horses seemed to be watching me. I looked into the lit up water.

I could see our reflection in the water. Me in my pretty gown with Ty's jacket over my shoulders and Ty next to me in his white t-shirt and white pants with black boots and the maroon sash around his waist. But what got me the most was the realization that through the water I could plainly see Ty looking at me.

I looked away from the water and looked up at him, perhaps sealing my own fate as I did so.

Some unseen force lifted the corners of my lips in a small smile. Ty seemed surprised at first but soon returned it with a smile of his own. My stomach flipped harder then it had ever before.

Ty turned his body so that it was facing mine and placed one hand on the side of my waist. He leaned a little closer to me. "So have you decided on my offer yet?" he asked in a low voice that practically sent me in a doozy.

He leaned a little closer to me and my heart was pounding so hard that I thought he could hear it. I clenched my stomach muscles in a vain attempt to get my stomach to stop flipping but it didn't work.

His other hand left his side and his thumb ran lightly down my cheek.

I couldn't move and I couldn't tear my eyes away from his. I could tell he was waiting for an answer.

And for what I said next, I didn't allow myself to think over it. Because that would have just ruined the moment.

"I think I'll stick around for a little while," I breathed.

And I didn't pull away, or even think about it. And when he kissed me, my stomach flipped again. But this time I think it involved my heart, too.

**a/n: **cheesy enough for you? argh. lol. Review! -Steph


	10. Chapter 8

**Authors Note-**

So I think I, by accident, switched Mel's second friends name. I recently discovered that she started as Julie and somehow morphed into Laura. Go figure. I'm as clueless as you. Let's just say her name's Laura, shall we? So the friends SHOULD be Stevie and Laura. Yup.

Well, I'm off to get back to my new lover… Spanish rock. Seriously though. You haven't LIVED until you've listened to it… and watched a Real Madrid game and shamelessly ogled Sergio Ramos's butt…

Ahem.

Review!

Goodbye!

Steph

**Disclaimer: **Lauren Brooke owns Heartland, not me. It would have been much more dramatic if I'd written it. But, alas, I didn't and Heartland will stay as it is now… at least in the books. But in fanfiction, you get a peak into the twisted brain of Steph. I don't own it though. Really. So don't sue me. Because I don't have much to give… I swear ::looks around:: seriously. It's all in my Soccer Jersey/CD fund and I haven't a penny to spare ::holds up hands::

**WEST POINT**

**Chapter Eight**

I suppose Mel, Kat, Stevie and Laura thought that is was _funny_ to ditch me at West Point that night. I mean, come on. Just because they weren't enjoying their dates didn't mean they had to leave me alone at the West Point Fall Ball. And I never will get over it… Fall Ball?!?! How lame. I guess those old Army generals lefts some of that imagination on the battle field…

And, yeah, I suppose I wasn't really alone… but the gesture of just leaving me was enough.

Thankfully, Ty was there and oh-so-graciously offered me a ride home. And okay, maybe he wasn't _so_ bad anymore… but if you're waiting for me to go all '_Mrs. Tyler Baldwin'_ on you, then you've got a _long_ wait ahead.

"I'll call you tomorrow," he'd said to me outside my door.

I smiled. "I'd like that." I could have smacked myself. What a stupid and totally clichéd thing to say. And given the fact that the odds of Mel and the others being pressed up against the door and listening were about five zillion to negative fifty zillion… I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say forty-nine zillion… point nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine-nine with the little bar thing on top… but that's as good as they'll get.

And I'd kind of been hoping that the stomach flipping would have gone away by then but when Ty kissed me once more it was still there. And maybe it was my imagination, but it felt just a little harder then before. And it was definitely harder when he smiled down at me.

I looked at my dorm door to clear my head before I spoke. "You might want to go."

He looked confused. "Um, yeah… okay…"

I almost laughed… well fine, I did laugh, but just a little. "I meant that unless you want Mel to be all over you too…" I trailed off, gathering from the look that had come over his face that he knew what I was talking about all too well.

I watched him as he walked away. There was really just something amazing about those pants. I couldn't _quite_ put my finger on it though… ha-ha. Put my finger on it. Get it? Okay, _no_… I honestly don't know when my mind got so dirty. But seriously. There was just something about those white britches.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I walked into my room, forgetting for a moment about the four people that were likely to be camped out in front of the door. And seeing as my heels were hazardous enough, it really didn't take much at all to almost fall flat on my face… or, you know, Laura.

"Way to be subtle, guys," I grumbled as I righted myself. I leaned against the wall as I yanked my shoes off. I sighed in relief as my feet were relived from their prisons. It's Heaven really to have your feet _flat on the ground_.

"So tell us what happened!" Mel demanded with an insane grin plastered across her face.

"Like you weren't watching the whole time," I reasoned.

"I totally _was_ right, wasn't I? You _totally_ like Ty," Mel gloated. Laura and Stevie nodded to back her up. "And we wouldn't spy on you like that, Amy. Gosh."

"I'm not going to tell you anything tonight," I said and took pride in watching Mel's face fall in despair. "Next time you was info then don't just leave me in a strange place. Oh, and I'm still mad at you for not telling me what was going on."

"You didn't look mad by the fountain," Kat chirped.

Mel smacked Kat's arm.

"What?" Kat asked blankly. "I… oh."

"Maybe I didn't look mad, but I was contemplating on whether or not I could drown you in the fountain," I assured them. "I'm just a mean, revenge plotting machine on the inside. Now," I looked between them all, "if you'll excuse me, I'm rather tired and would like to go to sleep."

Getting away from Mel for about eight hours was accomplishment enough for me. I knew I'd have a lot of talking to do tomorrow.

The truth was… well, did I like Ty? If I did—and I'm not saying I did—then it would totally go against _every_thing I'd said for just about the whole time I've been at New York Tech. I couldn't actually like him. Again, someone must have slipped something into my drink—my _Sprite_—because, if I had been in a clear state of mind, which I clearly was not, then I wouldn't have let him kissed me and… and I wouldn't have kissed him back.

-

So.

I can admit that I suffered from a bit of denial.

I can admit it _now_ I mean. I wouldn't ever have admitted it back then. And not to Mel, Kat, Stevie and Laura. Never Ever.

Anyway.

That's enough confession for one day.

When I woke up the neck morning it was in a rather unconventional way. And no, it wasn't anything dirty. It just happened to be Mel, Kat, Stevie and Laura banging open my door and pulling the covers off me and poking me. Yes, poking. And they're supposed to be _mature college students_. Three of them about to graduate this year.

"What the hell?!" seemed like a reasonable greeting on my part.

"Come on, Amy!" Stevie chirped in a voice that was waaaay too awake for… ten in the morning. Seriously though.

"Up, up, up!" came from Kat.

"No, no, no."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Mel traipsed into the room and flicked the lights on and off. Not that it really made much difference to the lighting of the room since it was sunny out. "We're going out to breakfast!"

"You're insane," I grumbled as I sat up, having given up on getting back to sleep by then. "All of you. Did you know that?"

"Get dressed and look sharp!"

"Um," I blinked at Mel. "What? Sharp? Would you like me to wear the coffee table?"

Mel rolled her eyes and grabbed my arm and hauled me off of the mattress. "Look good."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Oh. Wonderful reasoning. That'll go over well when you're in court and defending a client."

"Someone's not a morning person," Mel sang. "We're leaving in five minutes," she continued. "And I have no problem with dragging you out in you underwear… you just might be a bit chilly so I I'd suggest that you step to it and get dressed!"

"Got it," I grumbled as the left my room. Mel closed the door behind her. I looked around and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "Getting dressed."

I pulled on a pair of worn in jeans and a light green T-shirt, laced up my sneakers and slipped on my jacket with two minutes to spare. I quickly used the bathroom and brushed my teeth and, with thirty seconds left—there was a countdown going on in the living room—pulled my long hair back into a ponytail and grabbed my purse off the dresser in my room before I was propelled out of the door so fast I thought I'd fall flat on my face.

Ten minutes later we were back inside the towns' best breakfast place, the same one as before. The smell of bacon when we walked in was overpowering and I decided right there that I'd need to get some bacon.

The restaurant was relatively full as we were led back to a booth in the back of the restaurant. At one table we passed we passed there was a man in full out military garb—black pants and jacket covered with pins—and a woman in a sweater and a pair of khaki pants. And the young guy wearing… oh. Riiight.

"Alternative motives much?" I hissed and poked Mel in the back. Of course, she just laughed like it was the funniest joke in the world. And her laughter just attracted the attention of the _table_.

I met Ty's eyes as we passed his table and couldn't help the smile that spread across my lips. And there is definitely some reasonable explanation as to why his returning smile made my stomach do that ridiculous flip again.

And it seemed like destiny that once again I found myself in his lap… with Mel and the others making a mad rush for the table we'd been headed to in a fit of giggles.

One of his arms held my wrist and another went around my waist while mine just gripped his shoulders. My eyes were squeezed tightly shut in utter mortification. Ty's eyes were bright and laughing at me… something I could see when I opened mine of course. And then I could see his mom and dad. His dad looked like he was about to laugh and his mom just looked shocked.

Embarrassing.

"Well," I said, still in Ty's lap, "this is awkward." I quickly got off him and clasped my hands together behind my back. "Sorry… for interrupting your breakfast and for falling on you… again," I said lamely. "Well, bye," I said in an attempt to excuse my self but Ty's hand fastened around my wrist before I could get away.

"Hold on," he said, pulling me back to his side. "Mom, Dean," he said, "this is Amy. Amy, this is my mom and dad."

"Um, hi," I said, my cheeks probably turning as red as the ketchup bottle in the middle of the table. "Sorry. Really. I don't usually make a habit of falling on your son every time I see him…" oh, God. What did I just _say_? I blushed even redder as I watched Ty try to hide a laugh behind a cough.

Ty's dad, Dean Baldwin, just laughed loudly at my embarrassment and reached a hand across the table. "Nice to meet you, Amy," he said in his deep voice as he shook my hand enthusiastically.

"You too, Mr… er, Dean Baldwin," I guessed blindly.

Mr/Dean Baldwin laughed again. "Brad's fine, dear."

"Um, okay," I said unsurely.

Mrs. Baldwin offered me her hand next and gave me a warm smile.

"Well," I said after a moment. "I should probably go," I excused myself. "I really am sorry about… you know," I said to Ty. "It won't happen again… or Mel will find herself with her face in some mashed potatoes and gravy… uh, yeah. Bye!"

And then I fled as fast as I could and slipped into my seat next to Kat. I glared at Mel.

"Did your mother never teach you that it wasn't okay to just push people into other peoples laps while they're eating?"

Mel just laughed and waved it off with a hand. "Again, I'm just helping you."

"Well anymore help and you might find yourself with a head full of mashed potatoes and gravy… and peas," I added this time.

Mel made a face. "I hate peas," she said.

"My point exactly."

"But you like Ty."

"I never said that," I said defensively.

"You didn't have to say it, Amy," Mel assured me and the others nodded vigorously.

I chose to ignore that particular little comment. "Could we just not do this again, please?" I begged. "Please? It's really not funny."

"You're right," Mel agreed. "It's hilarious."

"Are we seriously going to go through this again?" I asked.

Before anything else could be said, the waitress came to take our orders.

I looked over at Ty once.

I'm still trying to figure out that _reasonable explanation _as to why my stomach jumped when I saw him looking at me too.

**a/n: **short, pointless (almost) and a totally filler but my head hurts. The next chapter will be better and longer. And I'm started RS and EB. And I'm seriously not ignoring anyone that had emailed me, I just haven't checked in forever! SORRY! I'll check ASAP. And I need glasses and am being tested for migraines but I'm doing my best with updating and all that good stuff. EB MAYBE tonight. Review! -Steph


	11. Chapter 9

**Authors note:**

Wow. I'm on a roll. TWO updated in less then 24 hours. Well, sorry for the delays, once again. Writers block, finals and spastic laptops were draining. And nothing is better then collapsing in front of the TV for hours to forget about everything… it really clears your mind. I think I've mastered the technique of studying for finals the morning of… yup. Anyways. On with the chapter. Enjoy!

Review!!

-Steph

p.s. this skips a head a few months because I have no idea what to write and I might as well just move on with the story. And I know it's confusing at first but it twill get better… I think…

**Disclaimer: **honestly? Get real. There would have been more Amy/Ty action/drama if _I'd_ written the series. And Will (was that even his name??) would so have met an unfortunate death. And I probably wouldn't be eating a cookie at 11 in the morning… speaking of which, I think I'll just get another one of those… oooh, and look at that, my brother left a big 'ol bag of Swedish Fish just _lying_ around… I think I'm in love… you have some competition, Serge… and you're damn lucky I have a good metabolism or I'd surely be as fat as the pig that your heart is apparently as big as… hmmm. Right, I don't own it, kay? Because I'm apparently more concerned about food at the moment… think my brother will notice that there's, like, one fishy left?

**WEST POINT**

**Chapter Nine**

It was only November. I'd been at New York Tech, the school that was, at first thought way too close to West Point Military Academy, for three months. But first thoughts can sometimes be deceiving. At least the noise from their cannons and everything no longer woke me up in the mornings.

The past few months had been remarkably hectic and the break was readily embraced by everyone. Any holiday work would just have to wait until Sunday night. Of course, my experiments thus far had already indicated that that was not the best plan for college. Oh well. It was vacation, I think I was aloud to take a break. Heck, I sure as hell deserved one after everything I had been through since, roughly, my first day on campus.

It was Thursday, the second day of Thanksgiving break, and the day seemed to be progressing in a remarkably similar way to the first day I was on campus way back at the end of August. I pulled the sleeves of my black jacket farther down over my hands and I jostled my small overnight bag further over my shoulder. I walked arm-in-arm with Kat and we followed close behind Mel, Stevie and Laura.

On our way to the park, we stopped at the local café and coffee shop—which had been uncharacteristically crowded with parents and friends coming to visit for the holidays. As I sat on the cold ground with my back pressed against the thick trunk of our favorite tree, I cradled my hot chocolate—I'd opted away from coffee, feeling as though I'd drunk enough coffee to choke a horse over the past few months—in my hands, soaking in the warmth it emitted. I lifted the Styrofoam cup to my lips and took a sip of the steaming liquid, breathing in the steam in a hearty breath.

"We really need someplace else to hangout," I said thoughtfully as I pulled my knees up to my chest. "We're all going to turn into snowmen if we keep coming here."

"Snow-_women_," Mel quipped.

"Snow-whatever's," I rolled my eyes. "It's getting cold… and it's only Thanksgiving! Think about what is going to happen during Christmas!!"

"I, for one, must agree with Amy," Laura said, rubbing her gloved hands together and zippered her jacket up farther.

"Oh come on!" Mel laughed. "It's honestly not _that_ cold out."

"Well I don't much like global warming," Laura said. "It's never been this cold at Thanksgiving before."

"Because your idea of cold in wear a long sleeved shirt, Miss I-lived-in-Hawaii," Stevie joked back.

"Well ha-ha-ha," Laura said sarcastically.

"Well I'm from Virginia and it's basically the same weather there as it is here and I still think that this is cold," I said.

"That's because you're just a wimp," Kat said. "A warm-blooded wimp."

"Well ha-ha-_ha_," I echoed Laura. Kat moved closer to me and looped her arm through mine. I squeezed her arm.

"But cold is icky," she said and leaned her head on my shoulder. I bumped her head with mine and we both laughed. Despite our almost constant banter, I never thought I'd make such good friends at school.

"And I could go on listening to you guys argue about the weather but Lover Boy is here, Amy, and as much as I'm sure he'd enjoy the current topic of conversation, I'm betting that he'd rather do something a little different," Mel said.

I looked away from the lid of my hot chocolate and saw several cars pulling to a stop across the street. Guys in uniform piled out of the cars. I smiled softly as I saw the all too familiar dark blue Escalade EXT pull up in the mix of cars. It would seem that West Point had also been recently released for the Thanksgiving holidays… a day after us. Ha-ha, suckers!! Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

If I had thought that the guy I was waiting for,—outside in the cold… under a bare tree—the one that Mel had been referring too, would have enjoyed joining in our argument about the current temperature, I don't think that he would have quite taken my side in the matter. When I finally spotted him stepping of carish-truck thing, he wore only a light jacket over his standard black and gray uniform. Even as the dark hair that fell around his forehead fell in front of his eyes ruffled in the wind—something that was surprisingly sexy even though he had no control over it, short of gelling his hair back away from his face… which would have been very, VERY bad—the significant—at least to me… and Laura—drop in the air temperature seemed not to faze him in the slightest.

"_Well_?" Mel fixed her incredulous eyes on me. "What are you waiting for?"

"Excuse me?" I blinked once… twice.

"You really are daft, aren't you, girl?" Mel rolled her eyes. "Ty's this amazing guy and he's here looking for you, so that he can whisk you off to his _home_ for Thanksgiving dinner. And here you are, sitting on the _ground_ in a _park_ complaining about the weather with absolutely no…"

"Hey, wait a second!" I sat up straighter, interrupting Mel's rant before she could get carried away. "If I remember correctly it was _you_ that called him to tell him that I was going to be here waiting for him, and it was _you_ that dragged me out of bed at a ridiculously early hour so that I could freeze my _ass_ off in this stupid park when I could be..." I trailed to a halt as Mel's grin grew wider and wider. I crossed my arms over my chest in a huff. "Oh, right."

"Great, so maybe walking over to him will warm your wimpy ass… so _go_," she stood up and dragged on my arm until I was reluctantly pulled to my feet.

I dusted the cold dirt from the back of my jeans before slinging my overnight bag back over my shoulder. I took another sip of still steaming hot chocolate before I said, "See ya guys later, have a fun Thanksgiving!"

"Well we all know you'll be having fun…" Mel said suggestively. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks, guys. You truly _are_ amazing friends," yes, that _was_ sarcasm. I walked away from my bizarre little group of friends with their laughter wafting after me. I shook my head and drank some more hot chocolate as I walked. Ty was talking to a couple of guys and hadn't noticed me yet so I took the unobserved time to shamelessly let my eyes drift over him. He really was a—how did Mel put it?—a hottie. Not that I would ever call him that, I have a bit more respect then that—even though he totally _was_ one. While it was true that nothing could rival those white pants I had first seen him in, the black ones sure were starting to grow on me. I looked up to his face to see his emerald eyes focused on me and blushed, part of me ashamed and embarrassed that he had caught staring at him so blatantly but the other part, a larger part, just didn't care because, hey, I figured I was allowed to ogle him a bit.

"Hey," he called out as I got closer.

I lifted a hand in a brief wave… well, actually, it was more like a salute since I was holding the hot chocolate. Either way, no matter what it was, Ty obviously found it amusing, since he smiled and pushed off of the back of his truck and walked towards me.

I smiled as his hands found my waist and his lips found mine. My arms moved around his neck and I could feel my self-control starting to slip away. I pulled away before things could move too fast. At Ty's questioning look, I said, "I've got some pretty hot hot chocolate and I'm thinking that you don't want it down your shirt."

He grinned and I blushed. Why was it that I could never seem to say something that sounded halfway intelligent around him? Everything I said always seemed to have some weird sexual innuendo and… oh my god. I'm never drinking hot chocolate again… ever. I quickly tossed the still over halfway full cup into a nearby trashcan. Some of the hot liquid slipped from the lid onto my hand.

I shook my hand. "Ow!" Ty laughed and I glared at my hand, like that would make the hot brown liquid disappear. Right.

Ty lifted my hand and I paled considerably at the sudden image of him _licking_ the hot chocolate off. I watched, with just a tinge of horror and a bit of awe, as he lifted my hand, my secret scenario—which, had we been in private would not have bothered me nearly as much—whirring rapidly through my mind. And then Ty… wiped the hot chocolate away and… kissed my knuckles gently. I blushed at my thoughts. It was a damn thing that he couldn't read my mind or he'd probably run away screaming. Horny McHorny's thoughts would stay private, thank you _very_ much.

"I'm such a klutz," I grumbled instead, thankful that nothing else managed to slip out… at least this time… I still had the whole weekend to embarrass myself in front of Ty _and_ his family… oh god.

"But a very cute klutz," Ty joked and tapped a finger against the tip of my nose.

I smiled, somehow he always seemed to know what to do to make the icky—well, extremely _wrong_—thoughts leave and make me feel better… even though he had no idea what I was thinking. Which I was exceedingly grateful for. More so everyday.

I blinked rapidly several times to send the dirty thoughts packing and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him quickly. Then I stepped back and shouldered my slipping bag once more. Or, well, that was the plan before Ty took the bag himself and put it over _his_ shoulder. I smiled. He sure did know how to treat a girl.

"So are we going to go?" I asked, rubbing my hands on my thighs.

"Yeah," Ty said, slipping an arm around my waist and leading me around the car to the passenger side seat. "I told mom we'd be their by eleven so we should probably get going," he said as he opened my door and helped me up into the high car. "The drive's no more than an hour," he said, his voice slightly muffled as he leaned over me to toss my bag into the backseat.

"Great," I said.

Ty straightened himself and looked at me. "They'll love you," he said, rubbing a hand along my thigh.

I placed my hand over his and he twined our fingers together. "Yeah, I guess," I said. "Though they might not recognize me not on your lap…" oh god, did I just… dear lord, someone help me. I blushed. "I… oops," was all I could come up with to say in the form of damage control.

Ty just laughed and kissed my cheek before shutting my door. As he walked around to his side, I shook my head and hit my forehead with my pal several times, only forgoing the glove box because I thought that might alarm Ty, and there really was no reason to shock him into thinking I was weirder then he already knew.

As Ty started the engine and pulled away from the curb, I could only shudder to imagine the conversation we would have over dinner tonight with his parents. I was so going to have to murder Mel. She was dead to me, oh so dead to me.

**--------**

Sorry, I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself.

The last anyone heard, I was still resolutely hating Ty, minus that one kiss at the Fall Ball. And now here we are, McDreamy and McSteamy all rolled into one fine man and me, McHorny Thoughts, acting all lovey-dovey with each other.

The truth behind our whole relationship is… well, _truthfully_? I'm not really sure what the big truth is. It just sort of… happened… that day after the Fall Ball when I 'fell' on Ty's lap for a record setting second time… record setting because how many girls just happen to _fall_ on a guys lap in front of his parents? I don't know, but it's downright embarrassing. And I had the distinct feeling that it would make for some, shall we say interesting? times tonight during _Thanksgiving_ dinner. I could just see it now… we're giving our thanks and I say… oh, god, please, no. Have pity on me just this once and don't let McHonry's mouth loose during dinn… oh sweet Christmas trees, there I go again.

Anyway, we'd just left the restaurant after my most recent torturously embarrassing encounter with Ty and his mom and dad. Our leaving also—cawinkadincally—coincided with Ty and his parents leaving—cawinkadincally. I was thinking some evil genius planning had been going through Mel's head.

So we were walking away when, low and behold, _some_one calls out my name. And there was Ty, his parents hanging back a bit but still there and listening. So what was I _supposed_ to say in front of his mother and father when he asked me to dinner and movie for that night? I had some things I wanted to say—some rather colorful things—but his parents were there. Now that's what I call an unfair advantage. It wasn't like I could turn the guy down with his parents there—alright, so maybe I _am_ just a wimp. But, nevertheless, I accepted and here we are today, getting reading to go to Ty's parents house for Thanksgiving and the weekend.

And now I'm the kitchen, helping Ty's mother, Jill as I'd been instructed to call her, get the finishing touches on the dinner. I was telling her about Heartland and all the work we did with the horses using alternative methods.

Ty had disappeared soon after we'd gotten there to the guest house—which was where he lived when he came back home, how _cool_ was that?—to get changed. And now, through the window above the sink—I was peeling a potato— I saw him striding back across the lawn in civilian clothes for the first time since I had known him. He was wearing jeans—that I was pretty sure blew the white pants out of the water—and a black collared shirt that clearly showed the outstanding quality of his chest.

So the Mister Military Strong Macho Manly type had shed the uniform. At least for now.

He came in through the sliding glass doors on the deck and I could hear his footsteps coming towards the kitchen. I continued diligently peeling the potato until I felt his presence behind me, his hands around my waist and his warm breath on my neck.

I giggled—yes, giggled— and leaned back against his solid chest, enjoy the feel of being able to sink in the protection and security his arms could offer me alone.

I felt his lips on the sensitive spot behind my ear and his teeth nipped at the nerves. My heart flipped in my chest. I'd given up trying to stop it.

Because I was so far gone by that point that it was actually comforting… in some sickly bizarre and twisted way.

Sometimes when his arms were around me like this it felt like he would never let me go.

And, by god, I prayed that he never would.

**a/n: **well, not the best but an update all the same. I'll update something tomorrow and try to get something else up tonight, any requests? Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Review! -Steph


	12. Chapter 10

**Authors Note**

Yes, alright, I KNOW. Come and attack me with pitchforks and stampedes. Enjoy the chapter and REVIEW!!

**Disclaimers: **HAHAHAHA. That's a good one, guys. With what's happened to the series, I can't even stomach READING it anymore…

**WEST POINT**

**Chapter 10**

Sometimes I felt like everything was going great. School was great. I had great friends. A great family. I even had a great guy in my life.

And then sometimes it felt like everything was just happening way too fast. My freshmen year of college was almost finished. The weather was sunny and warm. It was the week before graduations. Where the year had gone, I really had no idea. Sometimes I wished I could rewind and revisit the days spent doing no significant activity. As I would soon come to realize, sometimes the most un-noteworthy of experiences can be the one you so desperately wished you remembered.

And then the biggest everything-is-happening-too-fast factor was, again, the great guy. Yes our meeting had been rocky at best but that was just a distant blurb in my memories now. With Ty I felt comfortable, loved, safe, and excepted for being who I was. There was really nothing else I could have asked for—because yes, he was my own personal Greek God and incredibly fit to boot. I knew, and had known for the longest time, that I was falling for him. And it was the real falling. Not the soft-pillowy-mattress falling, it was the my-stomach-is-in-my-throat falling.

I. Love. You.

There it is. Just like that. Easy peasey.

It's only three little words. Three little words that are almost insignificant for what I feel. And I can say them to myself—even out _loud_ to myself. But I couldn't, for the life of me, say them to Ty. He, on the distinct opposite hand, did not experience the words catching in his throat. Every time he said it to me I could only open my mouth and then close it like I fish. He told me it was okay, that he'd wait for me to be ready to say it. But I still felt guilty. I didn't deserve those kind words.

Because the truth was, I _was_ ready to say it. I wanted desperately to say it to him. More than anything, I wanted him to know that I felt the same way about him that he did about me. But the closest I could get was "I… I l—". Sometimes it sounded like I was choking. I actually think I was. I had actually considered _writing_ it down, just so he could know.

Yet somehow, when looking into his emerald green eyes and handsome, strong face, there was some part of me—smaller then the majority but still significant enough to influence me—that kept me from saying it, no matter how much I wanted to. There was something about him that didn't let me say it.

It wasn't him. And it wasn't me. It wasn't either of those. At least not completely.

Some part of me—the minority part—could comprehend just how fully and completely I had fallen for him. From there, I just wanted to _say_ it. I could show it to him a thousand times over—yes, yes, I know… ha-ha-ha—but saying it was something altogether different.

I realized what it was one morning.

It was the weekend before graduation. It was early in the morning, sometime after sunrise, and I was laying awake in bed. Sprawled on my stomach with the covers bunched around my shoulders, I stared almost unseeingly out of the window in my room. There was the sun, and the full trees, and the green grass, and the little robin hoping on my windowsill. As per usual, all my waking thoughts—not to say that my sleeping ones weren't—were occupied with this aforementioned great guy: Ty Baldwin.

As I thought his name, I wanted to smile. But then I heard it: those cannons blasting away over at the Academy. The harsh bangs collided with his heavenly name and my smile stopped dead.

Now I knew what was stopping me. It wasn't something wrong with him. It wasn't something wrong with _me_. Well, maybe it was something wrong with me. Or maybe it was just the past. Whatever it was, it finally emerged from the minority party and made itself perfectly, painstakingly obvious.

_Cadet_ Ty Baldwin.

_That_ was who he was. Not Mr. Baldwin. Cadet Baldwin. And I knew that soon—all too soon—that cadet would be gone, and in its place would go something more terrifying. Because then it would be real. It wouldn't be school anymore. When he had his new title it wouldn't be because of what he did in the schoolroom, or what he did in the weight room, or what he did on the skills course. No longer would that title be a cool addition to his name, gained from a controlled environment. Perhaps Lieutenant General, Sergeant, Commander would sound cooler, but they would mean something else entirely. They would mean that he was actually fighting, that he was actually risking his life overseas.

I buried my head into my pillow and breathed in the smell there, trying to pretend that I could still pick his smell off of it. I couldn't breathe. My chest felt horribly, terribly tight. My eyes stung with tears.

Now I knew why I could say those three little, practically harmless, words in my head when I looked at him, but not aloud. It was because I was scared. I was scared for what would happen to me if I ever lost him. Somehow, saying "I. Love. You" was a lot harder then I had ever imagined. Somehow, I was subconsciously trying to prevent myself that small, _miniscule_, amount of pain. Because those three words were a commitment. And to me, they were a big commitment.

But they were true. I knew they were. And somehow that seemed more important.

I knew I had to tell him. Silent pledges, choked words, and smiles were no longer good enough. He needed to know. And, despite my realization, the need I felt for him to know was even greater than before.

If I brought on my own heartache in the end…

The tears finally leaked out of my eyes and rand down my cheeks. The noise of the cannons ceased in the distance and everything was frighteningly, eerily, quiet.

I could stay strong, though. I just knew I had to. And it wasn't as though Ty was leaving me anytime soon. Someday, I knew, he would have to serve his country, but that day wasn't today. Maybe it would be a day when there was no war. But he was with me now, and I would do everything I had to do to keep him here with me.

I would tell him I loved him, and deal with his impending deployment when it happened. Preferably not for a number of years.

---

W

---

P

---

Usually, I am one to loath surprises. And I mean absolutely, without a doubt loath. But when this great guy calls you and mysteriously announces that he has "a surprise for you, so be ready to go in an hour" even the stone heart of a Surprise Loather can flutter. If his voice wasn't enough to make any girl swoon, then the image of him shirtless definitely was.

It was enough to make me role out of bed and embrace the Sunday morning for all it was worth—which before today was not very much at all. After determining that the day proved to be sunny and warm, I quickly dressed in a pair of charcoal tweed shorts, a white v-neck tee layered over a lacey boysenberry cami, and a thin, black cardigan. I traced my eyes in a bit of black, pulled half of my long, straight hair up in the back and smeared on a bit of Burt's Bees lip balm. I laced up my worn, gray Converse, grabbed my little black bag and skipped into the main room.

On my way to the window seat, I grabbed a blueberry muffin out of the Dunkin Donuts bag that had been sitting on the counter for Heaven only knows how long. I took a bit, didn't chip a tooth, and deemed it acceptable breakfast food. I plopped down onto the window seat and waited impatiently for that dark Escalade to drive into view.

I could only attribute my excited state to the fact that a) I was feeling optimistic about a surprise; b) the surprise was coming from Ty himself; c) I had finally decided to tell Ty just how much I cared for him—a little surprise of my own.

I barely picked at my muffin. The butterflies flittering in my stomach clearly told me that they were not in the mood for a blueberry Dunkin Donuts muffin at the moment. I set the muffin on a nearby table and waited.

I must have gotten ready faster then I'd thought because it wasn't until twenty minutes later that I finally saw Ty. I ran out the door, shouting a quick goodbye to Kat, who had just stumbled out of bed. I was sure I left her bewildered and confused and ready for another nap. Usually it was me that surpassed her waking hour by hours. I could only imagine the grilling I'd be in for when I got back to the dorm later.

I flew through the dorm building and out the front doors, where I promptly collided with a solid chest.

"Whoa there, slow down." I recognized the voice at once—if the arms that encircled me weren't enough of a clue already—and smiled up at him. He pushed a stray piece of hair to safety behind my ear. His smile was absolutely breath taking. "I've never seen you move quite so fast this early in the morning," he said jokingly, his hand pressing against my back.

Slightly dazed, I blinked to regain my focus. "… Hey," I finally managed.

Ty laughed and then kissed me. And then he laughed some more as he guided me to his truck with an arm around my shoulder. I knew I should have felt ridiculous, but I couldn't even manage that in my half dreamy-half nervous state. I tried to banish all thoughts from my mind. Thinking was, I had long ago realized, never a positive thing.

Ty opened the passenger door and helped me up the high jump into the plush interior of the Escalade. I settled back into the seat and straightened my legs. Curious as to why he was still standing there with the door open, I glanced up at Ty. I followed his gaze and saw him staring at my legs. I giggled and his eyes quickly snapped back up to my face. My secret agenda to wearing short-shorts had worked. I'd been told that this particular pair of shorts emphasized my legs, made them longer/tanner/more toned. I'd never believed it before, but the truth in that statement was beginning to surface.

I winked at Ty. "Who said I can't have my own secret surprise?"

He stared at me. Then his hands were gripping my waist and my back was pushed against the seat as his firm lips crushed passionately against mine. I held his face in my hands and kissed him back. I didn't ever want to stop, but Ty pulled back with a groan.

"You are far too tempting for your own good," he said. His voice was preoccupied, like that was only the slimiest portion of what he was thinking. Something raged behind his emerald eyes.

"Does that mean that you like your surprise?" I asked innocently, trying to comfort him in the only way I knew how to without knowing what he was thinking. I was rewarded by his eyes clearing and then roaming over my body, raking up and down my legs.

When he looked back up into my face, his eyes were smoldering. "I can only imagine what you would look like without them on…" he trailed off suggestively, gently resting his big, calloused hand on my thigh.

I blushed and took a deep breath, not really up for doing anything more in a car—no matter how spacious and comfortable it may be—in front of my dorm building. I put my hands on his chest. "What about _my_ surprise?" I pouted.

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Sometimes Ty, the Macho Military Man, could honestly surprise me—no surprise pun intended. It was just downright ironic how romantic a man that could practically assemble a rifle bound and gagged could be. It made me realize just how rare of a special catch he was. And it made me that more determined to hold onto him for as long as he would have me.

Ty had driven us about half an hour away from campus. Forest land after forest land flew by the whole time. We didn't talk much, but the silence was comfortable. I rested my head on the cool glass of the window and watched the trees whizz by in a green blur. Occasionally I would glance across the seat at Ty. His fingers would be drumming absently against the steering wheel and a drawn look on his face. I wanted to say something to ease his worried expression but I didn't know what to say. I tried to think about what could be bothering him but quickly stopped that train of thought. Instead, I looked back out the window the passing trees and focused on not losing my nerve; I still had Ty's _real _surprise to surprise him with.

He finally turned off the main road and drove to the end of a dirt road where he parked the car. He grinned when he saw the look on my face.

"Er, you're not planning on murdering me, are you?" I had asked jokingly as I jumped down from the high confines of the Escalade and into is waiting arms.

He held me close. "I had to take you somewhere where no one would hear your screams." His lips brushed against my ears as he spoke and I shivered. His lips traced down my jaw to the corner of my mouth. I moaned and pushed my hands against his chest as he teased me. When he finally captured my mouth in his, I was left breathless and panting.

"Perhaps you shall have your wicked way with me yet, Mr. Baldwin." My voice was almost embarrassingly breathless and husky. I ducked my head and blushed. Leave to Amy to ruin a perfectly romantic moment.

When Ty laughed, the sound was deep in his throat. It made my heart race. Then he just grabbed my hand and led me off into the woods. We walked for close to an hour, or what felt like an hour anyway. With his hands securely clasped over my eyes—and my hands over his—I finally stumbled into what I could only imagine was the end of our hike.

He let his hands fall from my face but I kept his hands clasped in mine. As I looked around us in wide eyed wonder, our hands were linked in front of stomach and his forehead rested on my shoulder. Ty had led me to what could only be the perfect place. We were still in the middle of the dense forest, but it was different. The sun shone through the leafy canopy, setting the tiny clearing alight. There was a creek, gurgling and glistening, with several large boulders on the banks and a solid, rock cliff on the far back.

I was afraid that talking would break the spell of sunshine and forest sounds. "Ty… I…"

"Shhh," he said, taking my hand and leading my across the grass. He led me on the quickest, driest route to the other side of the creek to a large, flat boulder. He climbed up and then pulled me up behind him. "Let's not talk yet, okay?" he said. I stared at him. It was almost as though that little request was a beg. I wished, more than anything, to know what was bothering him, but again I couldn't ask. I just nodded.

Hours later, the sun was high in the sky and we had hardly moved—or spoken. In that time though, my shoes and socks had been discarded nearby in the grass. Likewise, Ty's clunky, black boots were left in the grass along with, to my great and immense pleasure, his gray uniform shirt. The sight of Ty in jeans was one I would never forget, but no matter what bottoms he wore—if any… _bad, Amy_—if there was no shirt involved it was all fine with me. As he had removed his shirt, I took the moment to shamelessly ogle his chest and arms. There was no denying that Ty was a big man—dear _lord_—but his muscles were perfect for his height. Somehow he managed to have a perfectly developed chest, abs and biceps while still retaining a slimming at his hips and an overall lean physique.

I sat on the boulder basking in the sun, too content to move. Eventually, Ty pulled me closer to him and I situated myself between his legs—no dirt-allusions intended—and nestled back against his chest. We were silent. But Ty held me tightly and that was somehow enough for me.

I wasn't sure just _how _long had passed, but eventually I broke out of my tranquil state and felt the need to say something. "Excited for graduation next week?" was what I ended up with. I could have applauded myself for my originality. Then I felt Ty's arm stiffen around my waist. I tilted my head back and craned my neck to peek at him face. Something wasn't right. Again it was plain as day on his clenched jaw. "Ty…" I said hesitatingly, unsure how to proceed. He didn't look at me. "Is something bothering you?" Well, there. It wasn't the most original phrasing in the book but at least it was out there.

He still didn't look at me. "No," he said sharply.

I looked down at the flowing water, relaxing my neck. "Please, Ty," I said softly, pleadingly. "You've been off today."

He looked down at me then, his emerald eyes curious, if not slightly guarded. "What do you mean?"

I sighed and fiddled with my hands in my lap. I had to look away from him again as I voice aloud what I'd been noticing all day. "You've been quiet," I said finally. "And you look preoccupied. And even when you… even when you kiss me…" I gulped.

"What?" his voice was soft, strained and his arms were tight around my waist again, but in a different way than last time.

"It's just… it's just _different_, like you're trying to say goodbye or something." By the time I finally got it out my voice was so soft I was doubtful that he had heard me. He was silent. He didn't deny it. My eyes flooded with tears and my heart constricted painfully in my chest. "Please, Ty," I managed to choke out. "I don't want… I…"

But I got no further. Suddenly he was gripping my sides and hauling me around so that we were facing each other on our knees. My bottom lip quivered as I looked wordlessly into his pained face. The pad of his thumb caught a tear I hadn't know had fallen. He looked at me sadly.

"My," he said softly, his hands on either side of my face, "you know me too well, don't you?"

"What do you mean, Ty?" I asked desperately, inching closer to him on the boulder. My hands gripped his bare arms like that was what was keeping his with me. He looked away, off into the forest, and broke our gaze. I almost whimpered in despair. "Please, Ty," I begged once more. "Tell me. Please."

For a score of moments, all I could hear was the creek and the birds and trees. My own hearts beating, wild as it was, had all but ceased to exist to my ears. I stared at Ty the whole time, could almost see things shifting inside his head. And then he looked back at me and the desperation in his eyes made my breath fall short. He pulled my body close up against his and held my face tightly between his hands.

"Please," now he was begging for something. "I just didn't know how to tell you. I want to but I… I just didn't want to hurt you. I was just trying to think of a way to tell you and I… and I thought I was hiding it well but you know me too well, Amy." There was a ghost of a smile on his handsome, troubled face. I tried to make heads or tails of his ramblings but came up short. "But I wasn't trying to keep it from you," he continued on, leaving me blindly in the dark. I shook my head slowly, trying to get him to stop his troubling, confusing words but he didn't seem to understand. "I didn't want it to happen like this, but it is and I don't know what to do about it. And the last thing I wanted was to cause you any pain so I've been just trying to think of a way to tell you, but I just can't think of a way to tell you that can make it any better and I—"

"Ty," I said. "Stop. What are you talking about?"

He closed his eyes briefly before answering. "You know how at West Point they… or at any military university really, I guess… after you graduate you have to…" he stopped abruptly.

"You have to _what_, Ty?"

His emerald eyes were desperate once again. "I need you to know something before I tell you," he said. "I love you. I know I've told you that before but I need you to know just _how much _I truly do love you, Amy." If possible, my heart soared and plummeted at those words. "I just need you to know how much I love you," he barreled on, scarcely taking a breath. "And I need you to know that, the way things are happening is not the way I want them to go. Ever since I met you everything has been different and now I just—"

"Ty, wait," I said. He stopped abruptly and stared at me. "There's something I have to tell you before you say anything else." I took a deep breath. I could scarcely fathom what all of Ty's ramblings were leading up to but whatever it was that _he _needed me to know, _I _needed him to know something equally as bad. And with his latest confession, it had to be now. This was the right time to finally say it. No matter what he was going to say, I needed to say what I needed to. "I… I love you, too." I looked back up into his eyes to see them wide and stunned. I couldn't help my nervous little giggle.

"What was that?" he finally asked in a shaky voice.

"I love you," I said with more confidence this time. He still looked disbelieving, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing was really, finally true, so I continued on just as blindly as he had. "Really and truly, I _do_ love you. Perhaps too much but I… love you."

Ty was shaking his head. "No," he said. And then his strong arms swooped me up and held me close in a hug. My arms locked around my neck and I breathed in the comforting scent of his hair. He laughed into my neck, his breath was hot against my skin but it still made shivers run down my spine. "No," he said again. "It's never too much." He pulled back to look into my eyes again. "Never," he repeated. I nodded with him, his hands moving against my cheeks.

"Thank you for telling me," he whispered.

I nodded. "I should have a long time ago," I admitted. "But I just—"

"You don't need to explain anything to me."

"Thank you, Ty." And I really did mean it. More than anything. I grinned. "I love you," I said again. Now that I had found the courage to say it once, I couldn't seem to stop saying it! I wanted to laugh out loud with how free it made me feel.

"And I love you," Ty said. "More then you could know."

We were silent for a time, just staring at each other and basking in the moment. But there were other matters that I knew had to be attended to. Something was clearly still bothering Ty. And as much as it put my heart in my throat, I needed to hear what it was.

"Tell me what's bothering you," I finally whispered, breaking our silence. Ty's soft smile immediately dropped and I wanted nothing more than to bring it back.

He was silent for a time more, but I could tell he was gathering himself to speak. I let him take his time.

"Amy. My father… he… he decided to… he decided that it was best to…" he looked down at the boulder beneath us, gathering himself before he finished what he was trying to say. "I'm being deployed." I was perfectly still. "To Iraq." I gripped onto Ty tighter and shook my head desperately, willing it not to be true with everything I had in me.

"When?"I forced the question out in a raged voice.

Ty swallowed hard before meeting my tear-filled gaze again. "Next Monday. Two days after graduation."

**Dun****…**

**…****Dun****…**

**…****DUNNNNNNNNNN**

**And here comes my plot. **

**I hope this was a chapter that was worth the wait!! Well, Arizona tomorrow ****so more updating time! ****Yay****! I'm sorry I can't spare anytime for my oh so ****loverly**** editing—HA—but I have to get up early tomorrow—or today, seeing as it's already passed midnight, yikes! See, I may not update as much as I should but once I get going I am as dedicated as the best of them! **

**Well, hope the chapter was a good one. Let me know what other stories you want to hear from soon. I've got a couple ideas of my own but I'm always up my beloved readers suggestions!!!**** I promise to update at least one more before Christmas because this wasn't a very merry update. **

**Happy holidays everyone!!**** Fingers crossed for all those awesome presents!! **

**Would be eternally grateful to all who could spare her a little TEENY review, **

**Steph ****Malfoy**


	13. Chapter 11

_**And who said that I wasn't affected by the cliff-hanger as well?!?!?!**_

_**P.S. I made a mistake. The last chapter was actually on a SATURDAY. But the other dates and such are fine. Who**__**ops.**_

**WEST POINT**

**Chapter 11**

I spent the rest of the day with Ty, hardly ready to leave his side. I wasn't sure I'd ever be ready for him to leave but this day was mine and I was determined to keep him for as long as he would let me have him.

His news was no light tale for me. It was not easy to take. A part of me, a very large part I knew, still had not accepted it. I knew I wouldn't until it was too late, until he was already gone. He told me, with sad eyes, that it was for the best that he served his country now, when they needed him. I tried to agree, I really tried my hardest to support him. But it seemed to be him supporting me when I fell against him crying.

He didn't want to talk about it anymore. I didn't either. And so we didn't. We should have, I knew, but I didn't have the strength, or the heart, to hurt him anymore. We lay around on that boulder in the woods for hours. This time the silence was different. Now I knew what he was thinking about. Now I knew what was going through his head when _that look _passed over his face. Whether it was for the better or for the worse that I knew what was happening, I didn't know.

I should have done something to comfort him, to make him stop worrying about it. It was what I had been wanting, and waiting, to do all day. But now that the time had come to do just that… I had no idea just how to make it better. Because, how could I make him feel better if it was tearing _me_ up inside?

All I could do was wrap my arms around him and rest my head on his chest. His arms tightened around my waist and his fingers traced little, soothing circles on the skin exposed by my ridden up shirt. I felt my body relaxing slowly under his touch. I wondered just how it was that he could relax me so easily but I could do nothing for him. I felt terrible, but I couldn't bring myself to move.

Almost as if he could sense my inner turmoil, he started humming softly. It sounded like a marching tune. I tilted my head back to look up at him. He was looking down at me with a small smile lifting the corners of his lips and crinkling the corners of his emerald eyes.

He started to sing a tune that I had never heard before. His voice has soft, but deep and strong and I smiled involuntarily at the sound of it.

_There's a yellow rose in Texas_

_That I am going to see _

_Nobody__ else could miss her_

_Not half as much as me. _

_She cried so when I left her _

_It like to broke my heart _

_And if I ever find her_

_We nevermore will_ _part_

_-_

_She's the sweetest little rosebud _

_That Texas ever knew_

_Her__ eyes are bright as diamonds_

_They sparkle like the dew_

_You __may talk about your Clementine_

_And sing of Rosa__ L__ee _

_But__ the __yellow rose of Texas_

_Is the only girl for __me_

_-_

_When the Rio Grande is flowing_

_The starry skies are bright_

_She walks along the river _

_In the quiet summer night _

_I know that she remembers_

_When we parted long ago_

_I promise to return again_

_And not to leave her so_

"What is that?" I asked softly when he paused.

He just stared down at me for a minute. "It's an old marching tune favorite of the Confederate soldiers during the civil war. Of course, the words now are a bit different from back then. I wasn't going to sing to you about slavery now, was I?" He playful nudged my shoulder.

I laughed. The sound was nice. I marveled at Ty's ability to always make me feel better, even when I could have sworn it an impossible feat. "Well it's nice," I said. Ty glanced over into the trees, hiding his grin rather unsuccessfully. That simple action made mine grow larger. "Though," I continued with a mock frown, "I must admit that I am surprised; Mr. Baldwin singing Confederate war songs?"

Ty's eyes narrowed briefly and then he realized I was joking. "_Marching_ song," he stressed. "Quite different from a war song. And it was a popular song anyway throughout the south. And I have to say that I admire the Confederates."

"You don't have any secret slaves I should know about, do you?" I joked good humouredly.

Ty grinned down at me. "Far less than a quarter of the southern population actually had slaves. The civil war, however big a factor slavery _was _to it, was not a war about slavery. It was a war to save southern culture and tradition… their way of life. The north was trying to repress them, change them, make them different. The south was, in fact, a chivalrous, paternalistic society with high ideals. They fought to keep their fading identity. And, yes, slavery was a part of it," he added ruefully. "But was it really their fault that their land was farm land? And was it their fault that immigrants weren't attracted to their land like they were to the northern factories? And it's not as though the north, so desperate to free the slaves, did much good for them in the end. And keep the Union together? Well, they did a _great _job of that one," he said sarcastically. "Congress passed a couple of articles, said the south and slavery was fixed, and called reconstruction quits. It was a war that shouldn't have happened. It wasn't even _about _slavery. It was about southern _life. _The north shouldn't ever have tried to change their culture." He sighed. "Brothers are allowed to argue, and they can fight. But brothers shouldn't go to war with each other. And they shouldn't kill each other. The powerful brother shouldn't neglect the brother in need."

"Hmmm," I said softly once he had finished. I smiled after a minute and then looked back up at him. "You're amazing," I said.

He looked at me curiously. "What have I done?"

"Whenever something's bothering me, you can make me feel better, and it doesn't even matter what you do! Even if you want to talk about the civil war… even _that _makes me feel better. And, let me tell you, I did everything but _sleep_ through U.S history class back in high school."

Ty laughed at me and rubbed my back. "You missed out," he said.

I waved a hand, dismissing the idea. "Eh, it just wasn't my cup of tea." I held up a hand to stop him from saying anything. "But, the point is, that when _you _talk about it, it makes me feel better. Even if the thing that's bothering me is you going off to…" I swallowed hard and looked down at my hands, "…off to war, and you're talking about a war… it _still _makes me feel better."

He was perfectly silent for a moment and then he hugged me. Tightly. He pulled me close against him and I wrapped my arms tight around his neck. My eyes got blurry with tears and I sniffled. I buried my head in his neck, taking a deep breath.

"Thank you," I said softly. "You're just… you always seem to be able to help me. I love you."

"I love you, too. I don't think I'll _ever _get tired of hearing you say that."

I pulled back and jestingly smacked him on the shoulder. I swiped a tear away from my eye. I was glad that he didn't draw any attention to my confession. He just, once again, proved my point. He _always _knew what I needed.

On my knees in front of him, holding both of his hands in mine, I looked him straight in the eye. I smiled. "Then it's a good thing you'll never have to stop hearing it, isn't it?"

It was his turn to smile and then he leaned forwards and kissed me. His big hands spread along my back, pulling me closer to him as his lips moved slowly over mine. I cupped my hands around the back of his neck. This kiss was filled with the same amount of passion that the rest of the ones we had shared today had been, but it wasn't quite so desperate. It was slow and gentle, and it was perfect. All too soon for my liking, Ty pulled away with a soft smile and settled back against the rock, pulling me back down against him. I focused on steadying my breathing.

"Would you like to hear the rest of my song?" he asked suddenly.

It took me a moment to think of what he was asking me but when I did remember I smiled and nodded my head against his chest. "Yes, please."

Again, as he sang his voice was soft but just as deep. I could feel it in my back, feel his breath on my ear and hear the words he sang right in my ear.

_Oh now I'm going to find her_

_For my heart is full of woe_

_W__e'll__do the things__ together_

_We did so long__ ago _

_We'll__ play the __bango__ gaily_

_She'll love me like before_

_And__ the yellow r__ose of Texas _

_Shall be mine forevermore_

_-_

_She's the sweetest little rosebud _

_That Texas ever knew_

_Her__ eyes are bright as diamonds_

_They sparkle like the dew_

_You __may talk about your Clementine_

_And sing of Rosa__ L__ee _

_But__ the __yellow rose of Texas_

_Is the only girl for __me_

We were silent for several minutes after he had finished the song.

I thought over the tune he had just sung and had a sudden idea. I turned around to face him and he straightened up and his easy smile dropped slowly in confusion when I crossed my over my chest and cleared my throat.

"Now," I said sternly. "I don't know who this '_yellow rose_' girl in Texas you've been singing to is but…" he raised his eyebrows as he caught onto the joke. "She's one lucky girl to have a soldier like you singing to her."

"Is she now?"

"Yes," I said. "Very lucky."

He smiled at me mischievously and started singing again.

_She's the sweetest little rosebud _

_That _Virginia_ ever knew_

_Her__ eyes are bright as diamonds_

_They sparkle like the dew_

_You __may talk about your Clementine_

_And sing of Rosa__ L__ee _

_But the __yellow rose of _Virginia

_Is the only girl for __me_

I smiled brightly and leaned back against him, nestling my head against his bare chest. "I like _that_ version better."

Behind me, Ty's chest—his whole body—shook with his laughter. The sound jumped around through the forest. I couldn't help my own grin and giggle that joined in with him. I had done something to make him feel better too. That was all I had ever wanted. To hear his laughter—to _feel _it on my back even—was more then I could have asked for. And I was the one that made that happen. To me, that wasn't _like _the world, it _was _the world.

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We spent all day out in the middle of the woods. Sometimes we talked. Sometimes it was just quiet. But all the time is was perfect. Just being with him was like that. And now, more than ever, I was determined to make the most of every second I was by his side. What we never did talk about, however, was his deployment. It was easier to pretend like it was just a normal day.

The spell, however, was broken when he dropped me back off at the front of my dorm. He walked me as far as the front door in silence, with his arm wrapped securely around me. I fiddled with the edge of my sweater in nervousness. Something was going to have to be said, I knew.

And I was right. He stopped just outside the dorm building. He turned me to face him. The setting sun was behind him and cast his face in shadows.

"I wanted to ask you something," he began, his usually confident demeanor faltering slightly as he seemed to second guess what he was going to say next.

"What is it?"

He looked up at me, his emerald eyes glowing bright. He grabbed my hand and held it tightly in his. I took a step closer to him, offering what support I could.

"I want to spend as much time with you as I can before I have to… leave next week," he began. I made my face carefully impassive and nodded silently. "This week is going to be really busy with graduation preparations and everything so… I would like you to stay with me after graduation. Saturday and Sunday at my parent's house… If you would like."

I nodded several times again before realizing that he was still waiting for me to say something. "Yes, of course I will, Ty, I would love to." I threw my arms around him and held him tightly. He held me back just as tightly. We finally had to let each other go.

"I'll call you, Virginia Rose," he said, brushing a finger down my cheek.

I smiled. "Can't wait, General Lee."

He laughed, kissed me quickly and then he was gone. I walked into my dorm, my heart sinking lower with every step I took. I found that with Ty next to me it was easier to deal with what was happening—or to deny it, whichever the case may be. But with him gone it became all too real. And I did not like that at all.

I opened the door to my room and after I'd closed it softly behind me I turned around to be greeted by Kat, Mel, Stevie and Julie having an animated discussion on the couches with loud music playing.

"Amy!" Kat screeched when she saw me standing there. The music went down a few notches and she bounded over to me with two shoes held in her hands. She waved them in front of her face. "We need your opinion. This is an _emergency_. Which one is better? Black heel or red wedge?"

I looked at them half heartedly. Under normal circumstances I would have just pointed to one but I found I couldn't even bring myself to that. I just shrugged and started to walk towards my room.

"Wait, Amy, are you all right?" Kat asked cautiously from behind me.

I nodded my head. "Um, yeah, I'm f-fine." My voice cracked.

"What's wrong?" Kat put a concerned hand on my shoulder. I shrugged, not trusting myself to speak again. "What happened, Amy?" she asked gently

I shook my head. "Nothing," I said, trying to convince her with a weak voice. "I'm fine. I just don't… I'm not feeling very well so I'm going to go to bed a bit early." I went into my room and closed the door on their stunned faces.

I dropped my bag on the floor and sat cross-legged in the middle of my bed.

Not long passed before there was a timid knock on the door.

"Amy?" Kat called softly.

I didn't answer. I curled into a ball on my side and hugged my knees to my chest as the tears began to fall.

Kat must have heard because the door opened and she came in. She took a look around the room and immediately spotted me curled up on the middle of the bed, crying.

"Oh, Amy," she said sadly as she climbed up next to me and wrapped her arms around me in a comforting hug.

I turned around to face her and sobbed against her shoulder. It was some time before the tears slowed enough for me to sit up and compose myself somewhat. I swiped at my face with the sleeves of my sweater.

"Please tell me, Amy," Kat said.

I looked up to see her sitting in front of me in a cross-legged position that mirrored my own.

I took a deep breath as I felt the tears gather again behind my eyes. I shook my head and wrung the sleeves of my sweater between my hands as I looked down at my dark blue comforter. I didn't know what to tell her. Or _how _to tell her without falling apart again.

"Did something happen with Ty?" She asked cautiously. I didn't give her a verbal answer, but apparently something on my face was enough of an answer for her. "Oh no," she whispered. "Amy, what _happened_?"

"He's…" I looked up at her quickly and caught the look on her face. I froze in shock. "No!" I almost shouted. "Not that." Kat frowned, clearly confused at what else it could be, but waited silently for me to tell her. "Well…. You know how at West Point everyone that graduates has to serve in the army for…" I began hesitatingly. Kat nodded and squeezed my shoulder encouragingly. "But Ty is going… he's going to _Iraq_… after graduation… Monday… only _two days_…" was all I was able to get out before I collapsed in tears once more. Kat caught me in a hug before I could fall back onto the mattress though. I clung to her as I cried again.

"How long is his deployment?" she asked quietly.

I hadn't thought about that and the contemplation of _time _made me wail. "I don't know!"

"Shhh, Amy," Kat tried to sooth me.

"What am I supposed to do, Kat?" I choked out through my sobs. My body shook harder as I thought about not having Ty with me. Not even having him a phone call away. "He won't be here and how will I know if he's… _okay_?" I asked desperately as my worries poured out of my mouth. Kat rubbed my back and let me say what I needed to say. "So many people have… and what if… what if he… what if _Ty_…" I couldn't even say it.

"No," Kat said firmly as she pulled back from me and looked me in the eye. "You can't say that. You can't even _think_ that."

I nodded my head slowly.

"Do you think that Ty will come home, Amy?" Kat asked me.

I was frozen at the question. I wanted him to come back to me, back home, more than anything of course. And of course I thought—hoped—that he would. Ty was strong. He was a good fighter. He was kind, confident. He was at the top of his class at West Point. He could do _everything _the best, I was sure. But even the best were no match for some and… and what I knew in Ty could not change what I heard every day on the news. The numbers and the polls and the statistics didn't escape me. I _knew _how many suicide bombings there were, how many insurgent groups. People that were willing to stoop that low to kill people didn't _care _who they were killing. They cared _how many_. Now, to kill someone like Ty, someone that was so skilled in the ways of the armed forces, would be a… success to those people but for the most part they thought about quantity not quality.

I made myself stop thinking. It wasn't doing me any good. I had to be strong. For both myself, and for Ty.

Kat was still waiting for my answer. I nodded my head slowly. "Yes," I whispered. "I think he will come home."

Kat nodded softly and smiled sadly. "See? What is the use in playing the What-If game? All it does is hurt you in the end."

I softly agreed with her. We sat there in silence for some time, both lost in our own thoughts.

Kat straightened up eventually. "I should go see if Mel and the others are still here. Do you…" She looked at me worriedly. "Would you like me tell them?"

I shook my head no. "I don't know," I said. "It's Ty's business. I think he should decide who to tell and when he's going to do it."

She nodded in understanding. "Alright," she said. "Is there anything else I can do?" She looked down at me from where she stood at the edge of my bed.

I thought for a moment. "Well… there is one thing…" I trailed off with a hint of a smile on my tear stained face.

"Anything."

"Would you go shopping with me tomorrow?" Kat's face lit up. I knew she loved shopping. "I thought we could take the train to the mall or something." Even better, she was practically bouncing up and down now.

"You know I'm not one to ever pass up a shopping trip," Kat smiled. "But may I ask why?" she eyes me suspiciously.

I shrugged, trying to look innocent. "I want to get a dress to wear to Ty's graduation next week."

"Oh." Kat was silent. "You know a lot of people just go real casual to those things?"

"I know," I shrugged. "I was just going to wear a nice pair of pants and a blouse or something, but I think I want to look a little bit nicer. I think it's just something I have to do," I explained the best I could.

"I understand," Kat said. "And of course I'll go with you."

"Thanks, Kat," I said. I got up off of my bed and gave her a hug. "For everything. You're a real friend."

---

W

---

P

---

"What about…. this one?" Kat yanked the closest dress of the rack next to her with a flourish and flashed it in front of me.

I covered my mouth with my hand so I wouldn't offend any of the other shoppers. The dress was truly awful though. It was some sort of seersucker concoction complete with navy collar and a large white bow above the rear.

"Wouldn't I offend some people there wearing _that_? You know… the whole Army versus Navy thing?"

It was Kat's turn to burst out laughing. She wasn't as discreet about it as I was and several people turned to look at us. Kat's laughter died as she noticed our audience—which only set _my _laughter off once more— and shoved the dress back onto the rack with quite an added bit of gusto.

We moved on, arm-in-arm, to the other end of the store. I smiled softly. It was fun, shopping with Kat. It took my mind off of things. If only for a little while, it still made my heart feel a bit lighter. She really was a great friend. She was just like Ty: she knew what to do to make me feel better. I was lucky to have such people in my life…. I stopped the thought right there, not liking where it was going at all.

The next dress Kat swung in front of me was a little banana yellow number with ruffles all down the front. I had to turn away from laughing so hard.

We must have wasted hours laughing over some of the more ridiculous dresses we saw there, but it turned out that that is exactly what I needed.

I was halfheartedly looking through a rack when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kat turn to me with sometime held in her hand. The first thing I saw was the dress—it was hard to _not_ notice it right off the get-go. It was simply made of giant, geometric shapes in all the primary colors. The dress absolutely stunned me, a reaction that I quickly saw mirrored Kat's exactly.

I held up two fingers in the 'peace sign'. "Sveeeeeeet," I said with an accent that really just had no place in this world. Kat burst out laughing and the dress fell to the floor. We bounded to the next section in a fit of girlish giggles. Still clutching her sides, Kat paraded the next dress in front of me.

"It looks like a lampshade," I said as I suspiciously eyed the _layers _or flapping, beaded fringe in disgust.

Kat checked the price tag and choked. "A $500 lampshade," she whistled. "Moving on…." She traded the lampshade for a purple contraption with black polka dots. It was strapless, had a big black bow around the middle, and was complete with a very short, very puffy bubble skirt. Kat took one look at my face and shoved it away. "No, you're right. I didn't much care for it either."

The next dress was dark, metallic red and had the potential to be thought worthy… if only it actually _existed._ I just honestly couldn't see it. I mean half the dress— or more—must have been missing.

"Put it down, Kat," I said gravely.

She frowned. "Well _I _think it's cute," she claimed wholeheartedly as she clung to the hanger as though it were her last chance of survival on a stormy sea.

"That's all very well and fine for _you, _but I don't want Ty's parents to hate me."

"They love you, silly."

"Okay," I said, holding up a hand. "They may like me _now_, but given my history of managing to fall—quite accidently of course—into their son's lap at every given opportunity, I don't think they'd like me very much if I showed up to his _graduation _in poofy, metallic underwear."

Kat considered this briefly. "You pose a convincing argument, Fleming." She relinquished her hold on the 'dress' and hung it back in its rightful place amongst the misplaced lingerie.

The next dress was black and would have been tasteful and classy had it not been for the fact that it was lined with feathers. Feathers that looked like they had come from a kindergarten classrooms craft box to boot.

"Oh yes," I said sarcastically, eyeing the dress as though it were alive. "I'll wear _that one _for my date with my bird watching boyfriend. That's his biggest hobby, you know; he's a birdologist. Feathers just turn. Him. On." I made my voice very low and seductive at the end and shifted my shoulders a bit for emphasis. I ducked down behind the rack when I saw the two elderly women at our next door rack staring at me with wide, horrified eyed expressions. I blushed scarlet. Kat, on the other hand, was all but rolling on the ground in her laughter.

The next dress on Kat's list was a very short, very tight looking little number with a deep v-neck. It also happened to be made entirely of turquoise sequins and had a turquoise sash around the waist.

"Sequins are totally back in." Kat nodded enthusiastically with wide eyes as if it to back up her claim.

I snorted. "Not in my closet they aren't."

The next dress was floor length and white, with giant butterflies all over it. I had no words so I turned my back to a roaring Kat and walked to the next rack. There I saw a neon purple sack with gold studs and a truly terribly lace thing without Kat saying a word. Likewise, the polka dot and sweater-knit numbers passed away beneath my fingers in utter silence. I didn't look around for Kat for fear that she was standing right behind me with a sinister grin on her face and a dress clutched in her hand that would surely give me a hard attack, or a seizure, or both.

I was beginning to wonder how hard it was to find a decent dress when I heard Kat behind me.

"Amy! Amy! Oh my gosh, Amy! _I've found it_!" Her voice was filled with so much excitement that I could practically imagine her jumping up and down and clapping her hands.

"I think we should head out," I sighed, still thumbing through an endless rack of useless dresses. "There's nothing here that I can wear and maintain any smidgen of dignity whatsoever. I'm sure that I have something that will be fine in my wardrobe at home."

"No!" Kat screeched from behind me. From the way it sounded, one might have assumed that someone was trying to steal and torture her most beloved paint set. "I've found the perfect dress!"

Despite myself, I was excited. "Have you?" I questioned warily, refusing to turn around. "Or is it just the final phase in your evil plan?"

Kat sighed impatiently and I heard her foot tapping on the thinly carpeted floor. "No, Amy. I've really got it this time. I swear. Now just turn around. _Please._"

I did as she demanded and gasped. _It_ _was perfect. _

The dress that Kat had found was respectable and mature but still managed to be sexy. It was sleeveless and would have fallen to several inches above my knees. The straps were about an inch thick and the bodice was made of printed silk patterned with blue and gold. In the middle, to cover my chest but still expose a modest amount of cleavage, was a white tulle inset. Directly under the bust was a shirred, taffeta, dark gold band that went down to the beginning of the curve of my waist. The rest was a straight black skirt. The back looked the same as the front, with the bit of white tulle in between the silk so it left a lot of my upper back exposed.

"Tell me you hate it," Kat challenged me, breaking me out of my reverie.

"I love it," I said with a huge smile on my face. "Thank you so much, Kat, you're amazing."

Kat shrugged modestly. "I like to think so. Here," she thrust the gorgeous dress into my arms. "Go try it on."

I couldn't run to the dressing room fast enough. Unfortunately, the dressing room attendant on duty at the time was one that wanted to make conversation with me as she led me to an available dressing room—the only empty one was conveniently the farthest away.

"That's a very nice dress you've got there," she said, eyeing me and the dress. "A special occasion?"

"A graduation," I said. "My boyfriend's," I added, feeling compelled.

"Congratulations," she said with a warm smile and she unlocked the dressing room door for me. She hung the dress on a hook inside. Before she left she asked me one more question. "What school is he from?"

That question brought it all crashing back to me. Dress shopping with Kat had been an escape for me, but now I was facing the truth once again. I fought through the emotions that suddenly felt too overpowering, knowing that the kind, middle-aged woman was still waiting for my answer.

"West Point," I finally said, trying to offer a smile to go with the answer.

"Oh," the woman said slowly. She sighed then. "Good luck, sweetie. Just holler if you need any help." Then she left and closed the door behind her. I didn't know if she was talking about the dress or about Ty and West Point. I shook my head and turned back to the dress hanging on the wall. I fingered the silky material and the cloud in my mind lifted as I imagined Ty's thoughts about the dress.

I kicked off my shoes and stepped out of my clothes. I slid into the dress and zipped up the zipper. The material was cool against my bare skin and the skirt, not nearly as stiff and straight as I had pegged it to be, swished against my legs slightly as I moved in front of the mirror. I looked from every angle, trying to find some imperfection, but I just couldn't. It fit me perfectly. It looked perfect. It _was _perfect.

I ran my hand over the smooth material of the skirt and sighed as I looked into the mirror. My face looked a little pale and my eyes were a bit red. It was amazing how different I looked now then I had yesterday morning, when I had gotten up, full of excitement, to dress in a pair of shorts I normally wouldn't ever even have dreamt of wearing. And all because of Ty. Ty had made me feel that way.

With my arms held out to my sides, on my toes I spun around in a circle. My hair fanned out around me and I closed my eyes. I threw my head back. I imagined that Ty was right there behind me. In my ear, I heard him singing again and behind that I heard his laughter. His face danced behind my closed eyelids, in the black abyss. There was a genuine smile on his face and his eyes were bright and happy. And then I was there with him. I was in my new dress and we were dancing. He was spinning me in wild circle on a grand patio. Ty was wearing a suit, not an West Point uniform, not a military uniform, just a normal suit and tie affair.

A tear dripped down my face and I stopped my spinning. I froze quickly and stumbled a couple of feet from the dizziness of spinning. I supported myself with one hand against the mirror and stared into it. Even with the single tear on my cheek, I could still see Ty's happy, laughing face in front of me. Growing fainter as it was, I could still hear his voice singing my new song in my ear.

_She's the sweetest little rosebud _

_That _Virginia_ ever knew_

_Her__ eyes are bright as diamonds_

_They sparkle like the dew_

_You __may talk about your Clementine_

_And sing of Rosa__ L__ee _

_But the __yellow rose of _Virginia

_Is the only girl for __me_

I thought of it and smiled.

Kat was right. Thinking about the What-If's would do me no good. I knew this, but whether or not I would be able to stop doing it was something else entirely. I'd realized that when you really, truly cared for someone, you tended to worry about them more.

What Ty needed from me right now was for me to be there for him, to support him. And, as hard as it might be, I would do it all for him. Because I cared for him. I loved him. I really, truly did.

There was a loud rap on the door and my daze was broken.

"Have you found another entrance to Narnia or something in there?" Kat huffed from the other side of the door. I wiped away the tear that had dripped down to my chin and pushed away from the mirror and left the images of my daydreams floating away behind me.

"No mythical happenings in here," I called back, trying to make my voice light.

"Well then come out and let me see it!" she exclaimed excitedly.

I slowly opened the door and peeked out, just to make sure she wouldn't attack me. Kat was standing there, her hands clasped under her chin. If it wasn't for her wide eyes and _bouncing _I would have thought she was praying.

"Gorgeous," she said in affirmation after I'd given a little twirl to show off the dress. "I knew it. It's perfect. Ty won't be able to take his eyes off of you. I hope Cadet Commander guys don't have to, like, make a speech or anything…" she giggled and I blushed.

"Are you sure it's good?" I asked, doubt now creeping in. I loved the dress, I just wanted to make sure.

"Uh huh," Kat said fiercely. "It's very mature… classic, really, but totally hot and fitting for someone like you. You will impress _all _the Baldwins, especially the youngest Mr. Baldwin," she assured me with a wink. "And don't worry, Dean and Mrs. Baldwin will hardly be able to think that you are going to do anything inappropriate to their dear Tyler in _that _dress… you know, just in case you happened to fall into his lap again… by accident… of course."

I blushed fiercely, tried to glare, and stomped back into my dressing room. I closed and locked the door to Kat's laughter.

I quickly changed out of the dress and back into my jeans and tee-shirt. I hung the dress carefully back up on its hanger and prepared to walk back to reality.

**Wow! That was ****looooong****. And I actually thought it was quite good. **

**So…**** MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Depending where you are in the world, it's either been Christmas for AGES, just turned Christmas or has yet to be Christmas (an hour and a half, west coasters!) **

**I want a dragon for Christmas, **

**Step****h**

**P.S. the link for Amy's dress is on my profile. I really like it!**


	14. Chapter 12

_**I, Steph **__**Malfoy**__** (yes that is my REAL life name…), do not claim to own anything Heartland related, nor **_**have**_** I ever, nor **_**do**_** I ever. However, since this story is basically original, I own the large majority of it. **__**Additionally, if the authors line of the series did say Steph **__**Malfoy**__** (which it does not), there would be no super special additions in sight. **_

_**P.S1. **__**Please**__** keep in mind that some—BUT NOT ALL—West Point related instances are accurate to real life**_

_**P.S2. **__**An**__** example to P.S1 being that there is an actual graduation parade BUT Ty's role in my story is more dramatized… but there's certainly no problem in that. **__**And, the parade is the day before graduation but… who cares**__**?!?!? Not I, says the authoress **_

_**P.**__**S**__**3**__**. Read my authors note at the bottom of the chapter. Please and thank you. **_

_**P.S**__**4**__**. HAPPY READING!!!**_

**WEST POINT**

**Chapter 12**

Graduation day came all too fast.

It didn't matter how long I could make the phone conversations last. It didn't matter how much I could savor every word. None of that could stop, or even delay—just a _little_—time from passing at the rapid pace it was. In the end, I couldn't stop Saturday from coming any better than I could avoid getting a shot when I was little.

Time was a concept that I couldn't understand. The moments that I _wanted _to pass spread themselves out for what seemed to take an eternity. On the other hand, the moments that I wanted to make last and draw out seemed to come and pass much too fast. They flew by and once they were gone all I could do was wonder just where it was that they had gone.

I was waking up way too early Saturday morning before I knew what to do with myself.

It seemed just like any other day at first. The sun was coming up, the birds were chirping. I yawned and rolled over, opening my eyes. My yawn died and fell from my face. My eyes landed on my new dress hanging on the back of my closet door. It was still wrapped in its garment bag but I could imagine it clearly enough. I stared at it and I remembered. I rolled back over, pulled the blankets high over my head and buried my face in my pillow.

This was really it. The final countdown.

I _knew_ it was coming, but graduation made it seem so much more official. That day was now here, and I only had two days, three if I counted today. But subtracting the actual graduation, sleeping time, and the half of the day Monday I wouldn't have him… it was only two days, really. Maybe less.

All I wanted was to scream, but I thought that that might alarm poor Kat, and I knew I'd been worrying her enough over the past week as it was. Just about the only thing I hadn't suffered her through was an early morning screaming session. I was too thankful for all of her support and friendship to start now.

Surprisingly, or rather more unsurprisingly, most of my conversations with Ty had included everything _but _anything about the… The Army. That was becoming quite the dirty little word around me. It was almost as though it was tabooed or something. Or not so tabooed, as the case may be. I may not have been talking about it with Ty, but all I had to do was turn on the TV and… oh, yeah, there it was. Poof. Just like magic.

Go Army.

U.S. Army.

Army Strong.

It was driving me over the edge and I wasn't even _talking _about it with Ty. I knew I had to though. But it was that one conversation, that one meeting… it was just enough for me. It was more then I could handle.

_Talking to Ty on the phone was my nightly ritual. For as long as I could get away with it without driving someone crazy, and for as long as he could get away with it without driving someone crazy… we were on the phone. He said he was busy with graduation so we didn't have time to meet. He did have off Wednesday night though so we decided to meet at __the park at sunset._

_As I waited for him to get there, I sat on the bench and did everything but twiddle my thumbs. By the time I caught sight of him, I did everything but knock him to the ground in my excitement to see him. My heart wrenched at the thought that this was how much he affected me after only _four days_. I pushed the thought away and held onto him tighter, focusing on how his arms felt around me. _

_He laughed into my hair. "If this is the greeting I get," he joked __lightly,__ "I'll m__ake sure to stay away more oft__…" he trailed off as he realized what he had said. _

_I pulled back slightly from him and scowled. But then I saw the look on his face and I just didn't have anything in me to stay mad at him anymore. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders again and pulled him back closer to me. _

_"I really wish you wouldn't try it," I whispered._

_He sighed and I felt his breath escape him in a gust against my neck. "I'm sorry, Amy. I didn't mean to… I guess I shouldn't joke, huh?" he laughed uncomfortably. _

_I took a step back from him and rubbed his arm in a way that I hoped was comforting. __I smiled lightly up at him. "It's alright," I assured him calmly. "Let's just let it go." I was determined to make this a good night. I took his hand and led him down the pathway where __several__ other couples were taking advantage of the beautiful night and walking as well. _

_Ty's arm came around my waist and held me close to him while I still held his other hand tightly in mine. We walked together in silence for several minutes. I smiled warmly at a solitary middle-aged woman walking her dog.__ Ty stopped me on the side of the pathway and turned me to face him. I dropped his hand and both of his found the sides of my arms. _

_"What is it?" I asked__ worried at the look that I had come over his face. _

_Ty looked unsure of himself and when he started, he started slowly. "I think…" he sighed heavily and broke our eye contact for a moment before regaining it again. "Amy, I think there's something we have to talk about."_

_I panicked. Just like every girl who __has ever heard__ those dreaded words, I panicked like a deer caught in the headlights. The headlights of __a__eighteen__-wheeler. And this poor dea__r, just like so many before her__, had no idea how she would come out of this head on collision. I had the feeling that I would fare for the worse. I looked back up, with wide eyes, to look directly into the emerald headlights of my own personal __eighteen__-wheeler. If Fate wanted to __smoosh__ me like a bug on the windshield of a car… __or a dear under the wheels of a—_

_"Amy?"_

_"__Er__… yes?"_

_Ty gave me a strange look. "It looked like I had lost you there for a moment." He raised an eyebrow. "What were you thinking__ about__?"_

_I blinked, leaving my dear fantasy __spiraling behind me. I hoped it was for good. Ty certainly didn't _look _like someone who was about to break another someone's heart in a matter of moments. _

_"It was nothing. Really," I assured him, offering a tentative smile._

_We were silent again, until Ty cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. I looked back at him. He took a deep breath and looked me straight in the eye. I stood up straight and tried not to look too much like that deer. As it was, I was sure I still looked rather stunned. But, this was it. He was going to tell me now. Whatever it was, I would accept it, no matter how hard it was. _

_"I know this is hard for both of us," he began uneasily, shifting his weight. I just wanted him to get it over with. To __see_Ty _looking so uncomfortable made me feel worse. "But I really think that we need to talk about my deployment—"_

_"__It's__ okay, Ty," I stopped him abruptly. Looking back, I'm not even one-hundred percent sure what he said. My mind knows well enough what it thought he __said,__ what it expected him to say. "Whatever you need to do, whatever makes you happy, whatever you think is… the right… thing… to… do? What?" He was staring at me as though I had grown another head—and antlers to boot!_

_He took a step closer to me and picked up both of my hands in both of his. "Amy," he said slowly, all the time fighting a grin and a laugh. "What did you think I was trying to say?"_

_"__Er__, well… I…" I blinked up at him, my cheeks flaming with color I didn't know they had. "You said 'we need to talk'," I accused him. "What was I supp_osed_ to think?" He could no longer contain his laughter and burst out on the spot. Several people looked over, no doubt wondering what the hysterical man in uniform was on about. To add to their curiosity, I twirled around and stomped away in a dramatic huff._

_I got no farther than the big tree a few yards down the path—where another couple was enjoying a picnic—when a strong pair of arm__s__ caught me around the middle and pulled me back against a solid chest. It would seem that Ty had caught me. _

_"I'm sorry," he laughed against my hair. "I wasn't going to… you're ridiculous, did you know that? I can't believe you even thought…" he sighed. I turned around in his arms and looked up at him expectantly. "What I was going to say is that…" he trailed off again._

_I frowned. I had thought that a breakup was the worst it could be. What else could… __oh._That. _The dirty little word.__ It was coming back to haunt me, to ruin my night. _

_"We don't have to talk about that do we?" I pleaded desperately with him, clutching onto his forearms. _

_"We have to," he said. "You need to know. I should have told you before but I… I didn't know how." He looked ashamed of himself._

_I sighed. "Just tell me," I said softly. "It can't be… _that _terrible," I reasoned, partly to soothe him but mostly to soothe me. His expression was unreadable so I continued on blindly. "I mean, the w__orst has already come, right?" H__is face twisted. __"Right?__Ty?"_

_"Amy," he said slowly. "Maybe we should sit…" He tried to lead me over__ to__ a bench but I pulled him back. _

_"Just tell me, Ty," I demanded. He didn't say anything and I almost stomped my foot I was so frustrated. _

_"You know how at West Point everyone that graduates serves at least five years of active services in the armed forces?" I nodded my head slowly; Mel had told me that at the beginning of the year. "Well, I guess that's not really __relevant at the moment…" He shook his head and lost himself in his thoughts once more. _

_"Tell me, Ty," I repeated. _

_He took a breath and seemed to prepare himself for what he had to say. The action left me worried. His green eyes were __anxious__ but I couldn't find my voice to ask him to tell me what it was._

_I waited for him to tell me.__A__nd__ I__ waited. But nothing came. And then he laughed sharply, a laugh void of any humor at all, and pushed a hand roughly through his hair. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm not doing this very well at all. It's just… I don't know _how_ to—"_

_I stepped closer to him and pressed my lips against his. He froze against me and then kissed me back. His hand cupped me hips gently. "Just tell me, please," I whispered against his lips._

_He took a moment, and then he nodded. We pulled back apart again. _

_This time when he looked me in the eye, through the worry there was a strange sense of determination. I waited patiently—with nervous butterflies fluttering madly in the pit of my stomach—for him to tell me. _

_"Do you understand that I'm going away for a long time?" he finally asked. He winced at the look I'm sure passed across my face. "No." He waved the hand I wasn't clutching desperately in the free space between us. "Scratch that. That came out all wrong."_

_"Stop," I said. "It was a little rough, yes," I admitted. He looked sheepish. "But it's true. And I do…" I took a deep breath. "I do understand that you're leaving." I looked down at the pavement and blinked away the tears that stung at my eyes. __"For a… a long time.__ But anytime is a long time when you're not here—especially when you're off doing God only knows what__ in the middle of a warzone__," I added ruefully. "But how long is a 'long time'?" I asked in a small voice._

_"That's actually what I needed to tell you," Ty said softly. _

_"Oh."_

_"Usually a term is… fifteen months__…__ but I…" my heart clenched. Fifteen months was bad enough but I had a feeling that I wasn't going to be so lucky. __I waited with my heart in my throat but Ty never did finish his thought. __"They're sending me out as a Brigadier General and that's a big deal," he said in a rush, further evading the point. _

_"How long?" I prompted in an almost nonexistent voice. _

_"They think I could make it to Major__ General__ or Lieutenant General in three years," Ty barreled on._

_"How long?"_

_"The Academy graduates are usually Second Lieutenants and they want to send me in as a __general__ officer so early in the game. They must really think highly of me and my potential. It's an honor really. Brigadier General is a one star—"_

_"How long, Ty?"__ I said again, my voice harsher this time. It finally got his attention and he stopped silent. _

_"Three years."_

_The first thing that happened was that my hand flew to cover my mouth. Ty stood there, watching me like a hawk, waiting for my reaction, but nothing came. I stared at him, my heart thundering in my chest. My thought__s__ whirled __but__ none made sense. And then, there it was: three years. The tears poured out of my eyes like a torrent and flooded down my cheeks. Ty moved towards me but I was falling, my legs couldn't keep me standing anymore. If I still had legs anymore even, I didn't know. I __certainly couldn't feel them. But then I was pressed tightly against Ty and I could__ feel__ everything again. _

_I clutched myself desperately to him, __thoroughly __convinced that if I loosened my grip even the slightest bit then I would lose him at that __very __moment. __His big hands spread along my back and pressed me closer to him, as though he were just as afraid of losing me as I was of losing him. I buried my head in his chest and his was tucked safely by my shoulder. He was breathing deeply, to steady himself, I could only imagine. _

_My hands had unknowingly locked around fistfuls of his uniform shirt. I stared at the light gray and black of it. __The buttons.__The Academy insignia.__The pin signifying his high rank among the cadets.__ And then I looked back at __the bunches__ of fabric clutched between __my desperate hands. I had never hated that shirt more than I did at that moment. It was taking him away from me. It was taking him away from me, giving him a fancier uniform and sending him far, far away. I didn't even know if it would ever give him back to me as the Ty I had right now. _

_"Please," I sniffled against his shoulder in a weak voice once my tears had subsided some, for the moment at least. "Don't go."_

_"I have to." His voice was soft in my ear._

_"Not for so long," I pleaded. "Just go for a term… just normal. You _can't _leave me for three years." I felt the tears constrict my throat as I said it aloud. _

_Ty sighed. "Believe me," he said. "This isn't how I wanted this to happen, but I _have _to. I love you, you know that. I love you _so much_. But I love my country too," he said softly, "and now it's my turn to serve her. __I've dreamt of this moment happening __for __my entire life but it never happened quite like this. Mostly because I never thought I could care for someone like I've come to care for you. But I made a promise and now the time has come to fulfill that promise so I have to go… I _want _to go. This is what I have to do. And I will be back."_

_I listened carefully as he spoke to me. I lifted my head and stepped back so I could look up at him. He lifted his hands up to brush the tears away from my face. I sighed over dramatically and his thumb froze on my cheek. _

_"And to think that all this time I've been sharing you with another woman," I tried to make my voice sound forlorn. _

_Ty looked shocked at first—more from my response then anything at else—but then he stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace that I returned eagerly. __He rubbed soothing circles on the small of my back. _

_"__Is it that girl down in Texas?" I turned my head a little so I could speak right into his ear. _

_"A poor fellow can't have two beautiful roses?" he whispered back. _

_I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. _

_After a moment had passed I pulled back just enough that I could look into his face. "Just promise that you'll come back to me __after__ you go off to serve this other girl of yours," I said softly. _

_He was silent. His hands came up to frame the sides of my face. I leaned my head slightly to one side to push my cheek against his palm. I closed my eyes. I only opened them again when he spoke. "You're my only girl," he said, twirling a piece of my long hair around his finger. "I was always going to come back to you. Wild horses couldn't keep me away."_

_I smiled. "Do you promise?" I pressed. I needed to hear him say it. _

_"I promise."_

_I nodded, relived. I knew that Ty's word was as good as gold. _

I tried.

I really, honestly, truly did try.

But I couldn't do it. I didn't know _how _to.

And then, faster then I knew where the days had gone, it was Saturday.

I had two days and then three years to pass. My heart clenched at just the mere thought of that outrageously unfair ratio. There was nothing right about those numbers, nothing _moral_.

As I lay on my back staring up at the ceiling, I imagined Ty already up and getting ready for whatever it was a West Point graduation entailed. I knew it was big, but that was about it. Oh, and the president would be speaking. I thought that was pretty big too. But as I imagined Ty, I imagined him looking quite like I used to look on the morning of a big show: almost bouncing with excitement. Of course, I didn't quite see Ty _bouncing _but the image was clear enough.

Ty was a military man. This was what he was through and through. I knew this, and I needed to accept it. It was who he was and it was far too late for that to change. And if I really thought about it, I didn't want it to change. Because if that changed, then the Ty I knew would change and the man I had fallen in love with would change.

I knew it would be hard—everything was certainly against me—but I was determined to make this day a happy one for Ty. Despite everything that this particular graduation was bringing with it, graduation was still a special day for everyone.

I just didn't know how.

I was just slipping into my dress when the cannons went off with a good deal more firepower than usual and I was so startled by the sudden booming racket that I almost stumbled over. After I recovered myself, I went about my business readying myself as normal, trying to convince myself that looking out the window would be foolish because I was not going to see any barricades. They were not bombing _me._ I would just have to assume that the different time and, er, enthusiasm in the explosions was due to the significance of the day. However, when I thought _that_, the cannons meant the same thing they always meant to me: West Point. And then they really could have been bombing me.

By the time I left my room, I was dressed in my new dress and had a black sweater over my arm. I pulled my long, light brown hair into a simple ponytail and applied a bit of black eyeliner. I wanted to look mature and put together for Ty's parents, and sexy for Ty. I wasn't sure I had nailed it, but I hoped I had at least came somewhere close… in the ball park was good enough for me.

I barely made it out of my room before Kat mauled me. Mel wasn't far behind. They looked me over and spun me around, crooning out their praises as my vision began to swim in front of my eyes.

"Ty won't be able to take his eyes off of you, Amy," Mel said gleefully, rubbing her hands together like this was all a part of her evil genius plan.

I walked to the couch and lay my sweater over the arm before dropping my purse on top of my overnight bag by the door. I turned back to look at Kat and rolled my eyes, she just shrugged. "This day isn't about _me_, Mel," I said.

"Pfft," she waved a hand. "So when are you leaving?"

I looked at the glowing numbers on the DVD player. "Mrs. Baldwin should be here to pick me up in ten minutes."

"And then…?" Mel looked like an overly excited child on Christmas morning. I just wasn't sure what present she was waiting for.

"We're going to the graduation parade," I said slowly.

"And then…"

"Well then there's the graduation."

Mel looked disappointed at my answer. "And…?"

"And then…" I trailed off. Kat just shrugged when I looked to her for help. "And then you guys will be there after the ceremony and there will be the luncheon and whatever else it is that happens after a graduation."

Mel groaned. Obviously I was not seeing the point. "You're spending the weekend with him! Overnight!" she screeched.

I blinked several times to clear my head. "Well yes," I said, a smile growing over my face. "I guess I am." As strange as I may seem, I hadn't really thought about that until now. Even as I was packing, the fact that I was going to be with Ty—overnight, as Mel had said—hadn't really completely registered. It just mattered that I was going to be with Ty. That was it. But now… now it _all_ mattered.

Noticing my silly grin, Mel pounced on me, grabbed my waist and skipped me around the room in some bizarre dance routine. By the time it stopped, roughly back where we had started, we were both breathless and doubled over in laughter. Kat looked at us like we were both insane.

"So…" Mel started, hinting at something. "What are you planning for your big weekend?"

I blushed. What Ty and I did, or didn't do, together wasn't something I generally felt the need to have group discussions about. And with both Kat and Mel watching me, waiting eagerly for some sort of juicy information… I wasn't all that keen to share any private information.

"None of that's important," I mumbled, fiddling with the edge of my dress. "I just want to spend time with him before he—" if I was horrified to find that I couldn't finish my thought, I was even more horrified to find that my eyes filled with tears. I begged myself not to cry. If not for my dignity, then for my makeup.

Without a word, I was enveloped from either side in a Mel-Kat sandwich that only broke apart when a knock on the door broke through the silence.

I stood up and smoothed down my skirts. I took a moment to collect myself and Mel rubbed my back. I smiled at them gratefully, not trusting myself to speak. My footsteps were silent as I walked to door thanks to my flat Birkenstock thongs. There was only so much dressing up a girl—namely those named Amy Fleming— could do in one day.

Just before I opened the door I turned half way around to face Mel and Kat. "You know, I _did _spend the night with him over Thanksgiving." Their mouths fell open; obviously they had forgotten that little fact. I laughed inwardly. I tactfully pulled the door open before they could comment on my comment however, it was all a part of _my _plan.

On the other side was Ty's mom, Jill, dressed smartly in a knee length, high waist, gray herringbone patterned skirt. A wide black belt wrapped around her slender waist and she wore a crisp, white blouse with short cap sleeves. She also wore a pair of black heels. Jill's light brown hair had grown down to her shoulders and she had left it down and it was slightly wavy. Her blue eyes were bright and she looked motherly, though she was giving me an odd look. I remembered what I had been yelling to Kat and Mel before I had opened the door and blushed madly.

Perfect. Just perfect.

"Hello, Jill," I said with a smile, trying to ignore the fact that I had no idea whether or not my boyfriend's mother thought she heard me say something rather promiscuous about her son.

I was surprised when she enveloped me in a hug instead of slamming the door in my face.

"Oh, Amy, dear," she said, giving me a big smile when she pulled back. "You look simply lovely."

"Thank you. You do as well."

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." I grabbed my sweater off the couch and picked my overnight bag up from the floor by the door. I looked around to say goodbye to Mel and Kat but they were nowhere to be seen. I found that odd, but didn't dwell on it longer than necessary.

"Thank you for picking me up," I said once I was comfortably in Jill's silver Mercedes SUV and we were on our way to West Point. I folded my hand on my lap and stared out of the windshield at the passing scenery.

"Oh it's no problem really," Jill assured me with a pat on the arm. "There was nothing to keep me occupied up at the Academy anyway. The men were all busy doing their things so it would have just been me reading a magazine or something. Besides, this makes it easy. You can ride home with Ty tonight and then I'll—" she stopped abruptly and I glanced over at her. She offered me a tense smile. "I'm sorry," she apologized softly. "I'll bring you home on… Monday after…"

"It's okay," I assured her. "It's… I can't…" I wanted to comfort her, to let her know that I understood what she felt, but I didn't know what to say either.

Jill laughed. "Oh, we're quite the pair aren't we?" I softly agreed with her. "I know how you must be feeling," she continued in a softer, more sentimental voice. "I remember when Brad was in active service. Every time he left… it never got any easier…" I nodded. "And he was always heartbroken to leave, I could see it in his eyes, but there was a part of him that wanted to go, that needed to go, and I couldn't stop him from doing that. This wasn't ever what I wanted for Ty," Jill continued on, softer still. "I knew he'd be causing the same heartbreak that his father caused me to some pretty young woman of his own. But that's not even all of it, is it? To watch someone you love more than anything else in the world place himself directly in the middle of a war… it's the hardest thing anyone can ever live to do." I clenched my jaw and blinked back the tears. Jill reached over and took my hand in hers. "I know you love him," she said. "I love him, too, he's my son. I'll be there with you to help you when he's not here."

"Th-thank you," I stuttered, overcome with emotion suddenly, but I was determined not to cry. "It's just that… I… I can't… it… three years…" I didn't know exactly what I was trying to say but Jill seemed to get the gist of it before even I could.

"Shhh, I know," she said comfortingly, squeezing my hand. "I'll be right here with you whenever you need me. I wouldn't dream of leaving you alone."

"Thank you," I whispered. "That means more to me then you know."

"Ty loves you," she said simply, as though it were the answer to all of the world's problems. I couldn't help but smile a little. "That means that I'm entitled to love you too. And you," she glanced over at me quickly. "You don't make loving you terribly difficult. I can only be thankful that my son has had enough sense in him to fall for someone like you." I blushed.

And as I listened to Jill talk I had realized just how strong she was, and just how proud she was as well. Through all of her own pain, she found it in her to support her husband and son in what they wanted to do, even when I knew she probably wanted nothing more than to stick them in an office somewhere with a pile of paperwork. I wished I could be like her. I knew Ty was excited, I knew he was proud of himself even though I still knew it hurt him to have to leave. I wished I could show Ty that I was excited for him too. Proud, too. Because I _was_ proud of him. He was exactly the type of person a girl could be proud of, that anyone could be proud of. Soon, millions of people could be proud of him and I still had no idea how to show him that _I _was proud of him too. It was hidden by the pain, but it was still there. I just didn't know how to reveal it.

"But," Jill continued on in a different frame, drawing me out of my reverie, "Ty is a bright boy, I'm sure that he'll stay out of trouble." I choked out a little laugh through my stifled tears. That sounded just like something a mother would say of her school children. "And he'll rise right to the top, you'll see," she said, the pride shining in her voice. "He'll give us something stronger then this grief in the end."

I nodded silently as West Point loomed into view. I stared up at it as it came closer and closer. It was huge. It was so old, and grand and proper. I looked at it with a different eyes that day. Just how I saw it, I wasn't sure.

I hoped that Jill was right. With everything I had in me, I hoped that she was right.

Jill drove skillfully passed the lines of cars. I giggled silently at the annoyed looks we got from exasperated parents waiting in line to park. We whizzed around to a small section of chained off lot that could have had a sign dubbing it the V.I.P lot, for all I knew. We got out of the car and walked together up towards the towering front building of the school. All around us the sloping green fields were busy with families chattering excitedly and younger classmen marching around trying to look important and involved.

Our feet crunched over the gravel pathways as we passed by a large fountain spewing water in the bright sunshine. I briefly admired it before following Jill once more. She had stopped to wait for me. She smiled warmly at me and looped her arm through mine before leading me towards the back of the school once more.

"Come on," she said, a smile on her face as she glanced down at me. "If we hurry we might be able to find Ty for a quick second before he goes to prepare for the parade."

The thought of seeing Ty lifted my spirits a good deal and we hastened our pace. We rounded the side of the school—our progress impeded the slightest by all the people calling out greetings to Jill. But she didn't stop to make conversation. She was a woman—a mother—on a mission and idle chit-chat was not a part of her game plan.

"Have you spotted them yet?"

I bit my lip and looked around the swarms of people. "Uh, no."

From my side, Jill sighed. We had stopped walking and turned in a circle. "Guess finding a graduating senior in a uniform at West Point in a crowd isn't the easiest, huh?" she joked lightly but kept on scanning the crowd.

"Well the attire certainly doesn't give many very helpful hints." I stood on my tip-toes to try and get a better look around. There were countless men and women in spotless white pants and navy jackets, shinned black shoes, crimson sashes and scabbards. In addition, each man and woman held a black hat-helmet contraption with an odd plume of black feathers shooting up from the top under their arm. What this was, I hadn't the foggiest idea in the world. The only thing I knew for absolute certain was none of the guys I saw were Ty because none of them looked quite as nice in their white pants as he did… but I didn't think I should share that particular bit of information with Jill, his mother.

Jill sighed again. "Well, maybe we've missed them after all. They might be preparing for parade."

I knew she didn't believe this, and I didn't much believe it either. We both knew for a fact that we had gotten to the campus plenty early.

"Maybe they're… hiding," I offered lamely.

Jill laughed brightly and patted my shoulder. "Well nevertheless," she went on, "Lee should be around here somewhere…" she looked around very briefly for her youngest son but very quickly found the effort fruitless. "Oh, Heavens," she sighed, shading her eyes against the sun as she peered around a rather large woman with an even larger sunhat. "It's no use looking for _anyone _in this crowd, is it?"

I looked around once more. "I don't think so, no." I thought that maybe if we had a ladder… or a chopper…

Jill's next plan of action reminded me just how strong she was. "Well never mind then. Come with me, Amy." She beckoned me to follow her and I did.

She walked straight towards a couple dressed in khakis and collared shirts. I watched Jill, wondering what she was up to. The couple seemed to know who she was and the man nudged his wife in her side repeatedly as she repeatedly swatted him away. I walked carefully at her side.

"Hello," Jill said, holding her hand out as she approached them. "I'm Jill Baldwin. My husband in Brad Baldwin, the Dean of—"

"Oh yes, Mrs. Baldwin," the man said as he enthusiastically shook Jill's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am John Perry and this," he nudged his wife forwards a step, "is my wife Helen."

"It's lovely to meet the both of you," Jill said as she shook Mrs. Perry's hand. The modest couple looked rather shell-shocked, yet quite pleased with the way their day was turning out. "I just thought I would come over and introduce myself."

"It must be a busy day, it was kind of you to take the time."

Jill pulled me to her side. The Perry's looked at me curiously. If they had wondered about me when I had hung in the shadows, scuffing my feet in the dirt, they certainly wanted to know who I was now that Jill Baldwin was holding onto my arm.

Jill laughed and waved her hand. "Nonsense," she dismissed. "I have no part in preparing for this affair, I'll I'd get is complaints that I was getting in the way. Besides," she looked at me briefly, "Amy and I here have misplaced the men folk," she laughed. She caught the Perry's watching me and looked horrified at herself. "Oh, how rude of me!" she exclaimed so suddenly that I started slightly. "This is Amy Fleming, my son Ty's girlfriend." I offered the Perry's a smile and soft "hello", and the Perry's gave the same back.

"So," Jill moved on with the conversation. I was still trying to figure out what this whole little thing was about. "Do you have a son or daughter graduating today?"

"A son," Mr. Perry said. "Jesse Perry. He commands a core of the cadets."

"That's wonderful," Jill said, and I felt like she truly meant it. Mrs. Perry caught my eye and I smiled at her. She looked away quickly. I wondered what was wrong. Had I smudged my eyeliner or something?

"We've heard a lot about your boy," Mr. Perry went on. "An outstanding lad, from what I hear."

"Oh," Jill said blushing and ducking her modestly. I smiled at her impromptu embarrassment. "He gets it all from his father," she joked and Mr. Perry laughed with her. I figured that Jill was just being polite and introducing herself to other parents. Though I had the suspicion that the punch line—"My, you wouldn't happened to have seen my husband around, have you?"—was soon to come.

"You must be very proud," Mrs. Perry said warmly.

"Yes we are," Jill agreed. "And you of Jesse…"

"Oh yes," Mrs. Perry said softly while Mr. Perry nodded next to her. "It's just hard, you know?"

Jill reached over and gripped my hand. I squeezed her hand in support and swallowed the rising lump in my throat. _This could not happen now_. "Terribly hard," she agreed, "but we're still proud of their hard work and dedication. They're good boys."

"Oh, just the best," Mrs. Perry quickly agreed with a growing smile.

I looked down at the ground.

Before the conversation that was quickly taking a turn that did not agree with my tear ducts could go any further, a voice shouted close behind us and stopped Jill's next comment on her lips.

"My two favorite girls are finally here!"

I recognized that voice. I knew it well, and it brought a smile of joy to my face. I whirled around so fast that I almost put an eye out on a gold, square pin on the white sash I was faced with. I jumped back a step, startled that I was _that _close to his chest. I smiled up at him before launching myself at him. I left it up to him to catch me because I couldn't be bothered with such trivial matters as _balance._

"Ty," I whispered into his shoulder. He held me tightly. I felt like I hadn't seen him in years. I hadn't seen him face-to-face since Fateful Wednesday—that was its official name—and I had barely been in one piece when he had parted then. "I'm sorry about—" I tried to say but I found myself suddenly on my feet and his finger across my lips.

"You have nothing to apologize about," he said. He squeezed my shoulders and smiled down at me. "Let's not talk about it now, okay?" I nodded silently in agreement. It wasn't a hard thing to consent to.

I glanced around and blushed when I realized we had attracted quite an audience. There were Ty's parents, his younger brother Lee, the Perry's, who were now joined by a young man in uniform whom I assumed was Jesse, and a handful of other nearby onlookers who had turned to watch. While the prying eyes and Ty's shows of affection made me slightly self-conscious, Ty seemed perfectly at ease. I supposed he would be.

He gave his mother a quick hug and kiss on the check. I took the chance to take in his outfit. He was dressed just like the others in a pair of white pants—which _did _look better on him—, a navy jacket with coat tails, shining buttons lining the front, a high collar and with a crimson sash tied around the waist and a white sash diagonally across the chest with the big gold pin. The only differences between his uniform and the others where that he had several more pins attached to his jacket, his funny hat-helmet—though I'm sure it was _some_where—was nowhere to be seen, there was no scabbard at his side and he was wearing a pair of polished black leather boots that were tight around his shapely calves. To me, they looked quite like riding boots.

My inspection—or whatever you want to call it—was cut short when Ty came back to my side and put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him and gladly let him support my weight. I took a deep breath. There was the first wave of leather but then there was Ty. I allowed it to comfort me. I opened my eyes and looked up at him. I smiled brightly.

Ty leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Did I tell you how beautiful you look today?"

I hid my smile—and my blush—in his broad shoulder. "No."

"Well you do," he said, and his lips brushed against my cheek as he spoke. I shivered.

His father cleared his throat and Ty quickly straightened back up. I took another deep breath before straightening as well. I smiled up at the imposing figure that was Brad Baldwin. I had come to know him as a fair hearted man though. When he was out of his uniform he was an entirely different person.

"It's good to see you again, Brad," I said with a bright smile.

I heard someone gasp. Probably from hearing me—someone who was thought just an insignificant little girl—address the great and mighty, all seeing Bradley Baldwin so casually. I wanted to laughed, but then I frowned. I wondered if I should have been more formal at West Point…

To my surprise, Brad winked at me. There was a smile tugging at the corners of his lips but he somehow managed to keep a straight face—I would have liked to know his secret. "Always a pleasure, Amy dear," he said. Then he turned on Ty. "You have to go and get ready. George is waiting for you."

Ty snapped to attention. "Yes, sir." He leaned down and kissed me on the check. "I'll see you later." His emerald eyes twinkled and his smile was so big I wondered if his cheeks hurt. I realized I wouldn't see him again until he had graduated and that thought tore at my heart a little.

I tried my hardest to keep my face cheerful. "Good luck," I said.

I never could fool Ty though. He leaned down and whispered softly into my ear.

_She's the sweetest little rosebud _

_That _Virginia_ ever knew_

_Her eyes are bright as diamonds_

_They sparkle like the dew_

_You may talk about your Clementine_

_And sing of Rosa Lee _

_But the yellow rose of _Virginia

_Is the only girl for __me_

I smiled despite myself.

Despite all the odds, he had done it again. He had brought a smile to my face.

"Keep strong, Virginia Rose," he whispered close to my face as he brushed his fingers along my cheek. "Keep strong for me."

Even as I felt my eyes well up with tears I knew what I had to do. I nodded against his hands and kissed him quickly before he had to leave. I held his face in between my hands and looked him in eye. "I…" I took a deep breath and tried again. I had to tell him. I needed him to know. _I _needed to say it. For him and for me. "I'm proud of you," my voice was so soft that I worried hr hadn't heard it. But he had. He nodded silently. "I really am. I just don't know how to—" I broke off as he pulled me into another tight hug. I couldn't finish it anyway.

"Thank you," he said softly into my ear. "That's all I needed. I know how hard this all is but to hear you say it means the world to me. You truly are remarkably, Amy." He smiled down at me. I blushed. "I love you."

"I lo—"

I never did get to finish my sentiment however, because Brad had suddenly become completely Dean Baldwin. "Ty Baldwin, so help me _God_, if you do not—"

But Ty was already walking away, like he didn't have a care in the world. As he passed me he winked and hummed.

_But the yellow rose of _Virginia

_Is the only girl for __me_

**This chapter was supposed to be graduation as well but obviously that didn't quite happen. It never would have gotten finished if I kept going. ****It wasn't even supposed to be anywhere near this long. I just couldn't stop. ****I thought ****about splitting**** it but the spot where that would have happened wasn't worth it. Then I was left with like four pages.**

** Anyways, I just have a few other things to say:**

**1. I**** realize now (it's been YEARS in the making) that starting so many stories at once was a very stupid thing to do. But I'm really trying to get things done. And I actually WANT to get them done. So I have a nifty little plan to set forth the completion of all my current stories in a timely fashion. I'm going to go in cycles and concentrate on about two at a time. The first two up are WEST POINT and RODEO STONER, simply because they are the most recently update and therefore the freshest in my mind. Hopefully this plan will work well for everyone and I will not be so overwhelmed with trying to keep story lines and character personalities/issues straight and regular updates will once more come! ****Yay**** (This is part of my New Year's resolution) **

**and**

**2. I've**** noticed a rather significant decline in reviews. I'm not going to demand reviews or anything (another resolution, I'm just going to accept it as it is), but I would like to know if I'm not doing something right. ****Things you've enjoyed I would also love to hear as well. And I have frequently taken reviewers suggestions (there's actually even going to be on in the next chapter). So basically, if you enjoyed the chapter, or even if you didn't, please just try to spend a couple seconds to tell me what you thought.**** Also, I spend tons of time making sure these chapters are at least passable so especially when they're really long like this one I'd appreciate reviews.**

**So, yup.**** That's it. ****Reviews and updating.****Covered it all.**** The staples of a healthy ****diet :D**

**And…**** I hope you liked the chapter and if you can spare the time, send me a review!! School starts again on Thursday but I'll try for a chapter of RS soon and there will be at least one update a week. ****But hey, isn't the fact that I can't seem to STOP writing this ****story**** a good sign?**

**--Thus ends the longest authors note in the history of the world--**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!!**

**Is wondering ****HOW**** this chapter turned so LONG,**

**Steph ****Malfoy**

**P.S1. I don't CARE whether or not Ty would actually go in as BG. This is fiction. And it makes it more exciting. ****So voila.**


	15. Chapter 13

**Authors Note (READ PLEASE)**

HEY GUYS!!

I'm so sorry this chapter took me over a week to write. The graduation part was driving me crazy and every time I opened the document to write and saw it I just decided not to. It's way too complicated. But I already made it too important not to write it so… whatever. Anyway. This is only half of the chapter. The second half is really important and I've been trying to get it JUST RIGHT but I leave really soon (like 4 in the morning) for my trip to the Navajo reservation and I am having a packing crisis (how am I supposed to packed a sleeping bag in a duffle bag?! God help me) and I just don't have time. I was really hoping to finish it all but whatever.

So here's just the first part. Hope it's okay. IT'S NOT EDITED AT ALL. Bleck. I'm also half done as RS chapter. I'll post everything when I get back the first week in August. I might take this chapter down and add stuff to it later but I don't want to leave you guys hanging and thinking I've neglected my authoring duties… because I really haven't been this time!!

Happy reading and REVIEW!!

Steph

**Disclaimer: **I bet I can prove to you in one word that I don't own Heartland. What? You don't believe me? Well, here it is: ALFREDO (or Alfonso or SOMETHING THAT ISN'T TY!!). Told you I didn't own it…

**MAJOR IMPORTANT: **I've changed my mind. Ty's actually going to be a MAJOR. No reason in particular… well, it is a lower position which might be more realistic, but it's still higher then he would have been before. But really it's because I think it sounds cooler then Brigadier General… Major just has a snazzy ring to it… Major Baldwin… there's just _something_ about it… (ahaha, get it? My _major_ important announcement? Ah… _never mind!_)

--

**WEST POINT**

**Chapter 13**

Sitting with the Baldwin's in the little covered section of raised seats angled just in front of the bleachers was surreal. There were only three rows of five seats each in our section and I had been pulled down into the first row by Jill, into a seat where everyone could see me. Brad and Lee sat on her other side. The empty seat on my other side was filled by a man in a smart looking uniform. I didn't know who he was, but I could only assume that he, along with all the other uniformed men in the box, were high ranking military men.

I sat up straight with my legs crossed and my hands folded in my lap. I hoped my hair looked alright. I tried not to look out towards the bleachers where thousands of people sat, but whenever my eyes darted over there were always people watching us. If they didn't know who I was yet, they certainly did when Brad Baldwin leaned across his wife, patted my knee and smiled at me.

Of course I had known Ty was popular amongst his class. Amongst the whole school really. But I hadn't realized he was such a celebrity. I ran my fingers through my ponytail and pulled it over my shoulder. I wondered just once more what I was doing with someone as perfect as Ty. I wondered what all those people watching me thought as they realized who I was.

I was wrenched from my thoughts when Brad said my name. I looked over at him. "I think you will be quite impressed with this parade," he said, his green eyes twinkling.

"Oh?" I said in surprise. I wasn't sure what else to say, really.

"Oh yes," Brad said, obviously pleased with _something_. "It's completely different from other years. Ty actually suggested it himself." He glanced at Jill. "What was he said, dear?"

Jill placed a hand on his arm and smiled before looked over at me and rolling her eyes. I stifled a giggle. "He said it would be a good addition to tradition."

"Ah, yes!" Brad's voice boomed through the little box. All the other men were listening to us now. "He said it would add some more excitement and tradition into the already existing tradition."

I still had no absolutely no idea what was going to be happening that was so new and different, but before I could ask about it, Jill took my hand and smiled warmly at me. "I think you'll be especially fond of it, Amy," she said. "Or at least Ty was certain you would be." She winked at me.

I smiled back at her. "Well then I'm sure I won't be disappointed," I assured her. Jill patted my hand once more before she turned back to Brad and I was left with my thoughts again. I wondered just what Ty had done to sabotage his graduation parade. I smiled a little as I tried, and failed, to imagine him doing anything to ruin the proceedings. Knowing Ty, whatever he had in store would only make it that much more of a sight to see.

I went back to staring up at the massive school across the sloping lawn, trying to ignore the loud crowd just on my left. As the time ticked away I knew we were getting closer to the parade and graduation. I wondered what would happen if there was _no _graduation. Would Ty still be able to leave? With a heavy heart, I knew the answer was yes. All of my time was just disappearing too fast. My stomach clenched in nervousness and I twisted my fingers around each other. When the marching band emerged on the other side of the vast lawn, I wanted to scream at them to just go _away_.

I wasn't ready.

The marching band cut off their song as they lined up along the far side of the lawn. A woman's voice came on over the sound system, and she started talking about the history of West Point and how it had been founded. She talked about how honor and discipline was the core of the graduating class. The audience cheered when the narrator paused to let them.

The reviewing party, as Jill softly told me they were, followed onto the front of the field. They were a group of about a dozen cadets, dressed as all the others had been. They held the scabbards against their shoulders and had the plumed hats on top of their heads. They lined up just in front of the bleachers. After they had lined up a horn sounded across the field.

Then the woman's voice came back over the speakers. "The bugle call just heard was attention. It was used to alert the cadet commanders that Adjutants calls was about to sound, calling the start of the parade. Bugle calls were used in the military of the United States as a direct result of the Continental Army with European soldiers and armies during the revolutionary period." She took a brief pause. "Marching in today's parade are cadets from allied nations, enrolled at the four year military program at the United States Military Academy. Upon graduation they will serve in the armed forces of their respective countries. The marches that will be played as the cadets assemble onto the plane are The Stars and Stripes Forever, National Emblem, and The Dashing White Sergeant. For today's parade, spectators are reminded to stand and render appropriate courtesies and honors for our national emblem, and when our colors pass your position, it is appropriate for civilians to stand with the right hand placed over the heart. Spectators are reminded to not smoke or drink, and to refrain from loud talking and to turn off all cellular phones during the parade. Thank you."

A minute later, a command that I could not make out was yelled from somewhere across the field and the marching back struck up a patriotic tune.

A burst of applause brought my attention around away from the band and around to the school. The cadets were filing out from the archways in their regiments. One the grass, their regiments were more clear and they split into organized groups. I couldn't help but be amazed at how organized and together they all were. I had enough of a problem walking alone without tripping over my own feet. I couldn't even imagine walking perfectly in line with a whole group of people.

As I watched the regiments assemble in their grid like patterns and listened to the shouted commands and marching tunes played by the band, I wondered if this was really real. It seemed so surreal. It seemed like I should be expecting the cannons at any second. I almost was.

Soon all the regiments had assembled and the marching band finally ended its songs. This time the voice on the speakers was a man's'. He gave a little more history about military related things and I quickly grew bored of listening to him. I scanned the cadets for Ty, thinking that a much better use of my time, but I didn't see him. I looked especially hard in the smaller groups of cadets towards the front of the lawn but still didn't see him. I fidgeted with my hands as the marching band made its way past the review line.

"Where's Ty?" I couldn't resist whispering softly to Jill.

Jill smiled at me knowingly, a twinkle in her eye, and patted my hand. "He'll be here soon enough, and you won't be able to miss him," she assured me. Jill caught my confusion. She leaned closer to my ear when she spoke again. "Brad may think Ty had tradition in mind, but if you ask me, this whole thing was something he cooked up with the rest of the commanders so they'd get a big entrance in the parade." She leaned back and gave me a knowing look.

"Oh," I said softly. Then I grinned. "That does seem like something Ty might do."

Jill smiled at me. "You don't even know the half of it yet, my dear."

When I looked back towards the field I was relieved to see the marching band filing back into its place. There was more shouting of commands amongst the cadets and this time I did get one of the repeating commands. It was "attention". All the cadets stood up straighter, heads held high, shoulders back, legs together. Now wouldn't it only be reasonable that the—

"The commander of troops for today's review is Cadet Commander Tyler Baldwin." I grinned as the words were taken right from my thoughts. "His staff consists of…"

I watched the field expectantly for Ty, but didn't see him. I tuned out the narrator who kept droning on overhead, rattling of the names of the men and women that filled the highest roles in the class and made up Ty's staff. Jill must have noticed me fidgeting a little because she reached over and took my hand, effectively stilling it. I looked up at her but she only smiled and went back to watching the field.

That's when I heard it. It was a steady drumming, like a drum, but it wasn't coming from the marching band this time. It took me only a moment to realize that it was a sound I had grown up with and would recognize anywhere. Hooves! But why in the world… A collective gasp rose from the crowd. Jill squeezed my hand and I looked around just in time to see him enter the field.

It was Ty on horseback at the head of about a dozen other men and women on horseback. I almost laughed. I had been trying to imagine what Ty's "big entrance" was going to be. I had imagined some patriotic fireworks but never this. This was just so much better.

I'm sure that the sight of Ty on any horse would be a sight to behold, but the sight of him on this particular horse made my heart beat faster in my chest. This horse was pure white, with a flowing mane and tail. He must have been 17 hands high and from what I could see, was pure muscle. He had a wide chest and a long body with strong, sloping haunches. His neck was long and held a proud head that was tucked into a perfect arch. His legs were long and slender and moved across the ground so smoothly that it almost looked as though they weren't really even touching. And then, of course, there was Ty. The white of his pants nearly blended into the horse's coat, only his blue jacket, the black boots and rich leather saddle contrasting it. He sat almost impossible straight and barely moved in the saddle—I envied his seat for a second. The feather hat atop his head bounced with the horse's movement.

Ty rode at the front of his group, just slightly behind him was a man on a black horse. Behind them were threw rows with five riders each. Every other rider rode a bay horse. Every horse was magnificent, but Ty's easily stood out from the rest. Though, maybe that was just my opinion.

The group passed by the review board at a smooth trot, all of the horses perfectly in step together, their riders barely moving at they sat easily to the sitting trot. They continued the circuit to the end of the field and came back down towards us. I kept my eyes on Ty the whole time. His eyes shifted very quickly to me before they snapped forward again. I couldn't help but smile.

They finally stopped in the middle of the lawn at the front of the rest of cadets. Now Ty was at the front of everything.

For the rest of parade I didn't take my eyes of him. Not through the national anthem or the reviewing of the rest of the regiments and battalions. Not the marching band or the shouting distracted me. I watched as the rest of the horseback riders stayed in place but Ty and his horse moved up and down the lines as they pleased. As I watched him, I realized—really realized—that I was proud of him. So incredibly proud. He had worked his whole life for this and here he was. He did it perfectly, and so at ease.

But then at end of the parade, Ty gave the order for the whole class to march together towards the reviewing line.

"Graduating class, forwards!" he used a voice I had never heard before. It was one of the ones I had been blocking out all day long. One of those gruff shouted commands. The kind you could barely understand. I'd never heard that voice on Ty before. I'd never even imagined him using it before. I thought about it as I watched the class follow him forwards, figuring that I would still not associate that voice with _my _Ty. But now that I thought about it, it _was_ something I could picture on Ty. And it nearly broke my heart to realize just how far into him the military was… and how far into the military _he _was.

Jill grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, and I applauded the graduating class along with everyone else.

--

--

I didn't see Ty after the parade. He had to take his horse back down to the stable. I walked leisurely down to where the graduation ceremony was going to be held in the football stadium with Jill. Lee followed behind us somewhere.

"So were you surprised?" Jill asked, slipping her arm through mine so we wouldn't lose each other in the crowd of people.

"Oh yes," I said, smiling as I thought of Ty on the horse again. That was an image I knew would help me through the hard parts of the day. "I mean, I knew he rode but I never imagined…" I looked up towards the clear sky.

Jill laughed. "Big entrance though, no?"

"Well… yes," I laughed with her. I saw a couple people glance over at us as we walked but for once I barely paid any attention to them. Jill could be like my mother and my best friend at the same time. Talking to her helped me and right now I was glad she was with me. "But I saw the tradition there, I guess. The old cavalry units, right?"

Jill nodded. "That was Ty's claim, yes. And George Washington rode a white horse, you know," she said casually.

I laughed again. "Oh. So now he thinks he's George Washington?"

"Actually I think that's the horse," Jill said.

I suddenly remembered hearing Brad call the horse George earlier in the day. "Oh no!" I laughed some more. "He didn't!"

"I think Brad might have had something to do with the naming," Jill admitted.

My laughter continued as we walked. It finally quieted and finally died when I saw the football stadium looming in front of us. I sighed and looked at the ground.

Jill rubbed my shoulder and looked at me sympathetically. "Only another hour or two and then it's just lunch. You'll be with Ty then," she assured me, seeming to know exactly what I wanted at that moment. Jill, though, seemed to see that I wasn't completely convinced yet. "And after that you have all day tomorrow. If I know my son at all, he won't let you out his sights. You might get rather sick of him."

I smiled softly. "No, I don't think that's possible."

"I'm glad to hear it," Jill said. "Now let's go find some good seats."

--

--

The graduation was a magnificent affair. I barely heard anything that was said, or knew why anything that was done _was _done, but I could just tell that it would be one of the most important events in many of these peoples' lives. The President of the United States was there and spoke to the graduating cadets. I could only imagine the honor they all felt.

All of my attention, however, was focused once again on Ty. This time it was easy to find him. He was at the front of his class and remained standing the whole ceremony. I guess it was because he was cadet commanded but I didn't know. There were six other men and women in a line just behind him that stood the whole time too. I was just glad to have Ty clearly in my sights the whole time.

After the president spoke to the cadets, Brad gave his speech. I actually did make an effort—well, at least half an effort—to listen to him. He talked about honor and duty, and honor and duty in serving your country. He praised the graduating class in their discipline but he said that they were a class that, as a whole, embraced the core aspects that the founders of West Point and the leaders of the country valued and fought for. Brad also acknowledged the support from all the parents of the graduating cadets.

"I've been a military man my whole life, and I've been proud to support my son," he said, glancing quickly down at where Ty stood, "as he chose to follow the same path with his life. Today I can watch him graduate with not just the pride of an army official, but with the joy of a father. But it's also made me realize how hard this life is for the people close to these brave men and women. In two days I send my son overseas and for the first time I've felt how hard it is to send a family member away. I couldn't be any prouder of my son but a father is entitled to act a certain way." A few people chuckled. "The last few weeks I've seen the pain in my wife and my son's girlfriend, but I also saw how hard they tried to stay strong for my son, and how important it was for them to show how proud of him they were. I would like to take this time to honor the parents and the loved ones that have been behind these cadets and supporting them for these last four, hard years. The next few years won't be any easier but I know you'll continue to support them and they'll continue to make you proud."

The crowd erupted into applause. I clapped softly, my eyes blurring with tears as I stared down at Ty. He just stood there, never moving even an inch.

I glanced over at Jill just in time to see her brushing a tear away from her cheek. I leaned over and hugged her gently. She hugged me back.

Jill pulled back a few minutes later. She kept her hands on my arms and smiled down at me. "We'll get through this together, yes?"

"Of course," I said softly. "I'm not going anywhere."

As I said the words, I realized how true they really were. Unless Ty asked me, I wouldn't leave. I had no idea what I would do, but somehow I would make it through his absence.

Jill and I jumped to our feet and we screamed the loudest for Ty when his name was called for his diploma. He made his walk up to the stage and he shook the president's hand and his father's hand and he got that little piece of paper that said he graduated. Once he was off the other side of the stage he looked up into the stands and somehow found me and his mom. He touched the diploma to the side of this head and smiled. At that moment the only thing I could feel was pride. Pride that he was _mine_. Pride that he had done it, that he had graduated.

The rest of the diplomas were passed out. I watched silently. I still watched Ty. I had expected it to be harder. I almost wished it was harder. Grief over his impending departure was easier to understand. But the truth was that I really was proud of Ty. I was proud of every sing thing he had managed to accomplish at West Point, all the broken records and teams led. I had wanted to show him how proud I was of him, maybe now I would be able to.

Soon the class was seated once more and Brad was in front of microphone. He said a few more parting words and then the magic words: "Class dismissed!"

The cheers of the graduated class overpowered the entire audience as they all leapt from their seats and threw their white hats into the air.

Jill and I quickly made our way down the stadium seats and into the infield where parents and friends were already crowding. Jill took my arm as we walked headlong into the crowd.

"Now to begin the search _again_," she said.

I laughed happily, watching as we passed cadets embracing family members, friends and other cadets in congratulations.

We finally found Ty talking with another cadet and his family. He didn't see us coming so Jill and I carefully picked away across the hat ridden ground to him. When he finally saw us Jill rushed towards him and hugged him. I stayed slightly farther behind as mother and son had their moment. The cadet that Ty had been talking to smiled briefly at me and I smiled back.

"Well I'm going to find your father," Jill said a moment later, rubbing Ty's arm. "I'll join you kids in a minute." She rushed away and I was finally alone with Ty.

I looked up at him with a smile that he matched before I threw myself into his arms for the second time that day. He caught me easily and spun me around several times, lifting me completely off the ground. He laughed into my hair and I locked my arms around his neck. When I was safely on the ground again Ty's hands stayed on my waist but I moved mine up to the sides of his face. His smile hadn't gotten any smaller, and I'm pretty sure mine hadn't either.

"Congratulations, Ty," I said softly. "I really hope you know that I _am _proud of you."

Ty pulled me closer to him and leaned his head down on my shoulder. "I know," he said with a muffled voice. I kept my hands on his back and turned my face into his neck. "I know it's hard for you, but thank you."

I sighed. "I love you, Ty."

Ty pulled back slightly so that he could look at me. He smiled again. "And I love you." And then he kissed me. It wasn't a frantic or rushed kiss, but it had enough passion in it to leave me breathless and gasping when he finally pulled away.

I leaned my head back on Ty's shoulder and took a deep breath, smiling to myself. Then I recognized a new smell mixed in with his usual scent. I looked back up at him. "You smell like horse," I accused. Ty laughed and I joined in briefly before laying my head back down and breathing in the comforting scent. "I like it."

"So what did you think of the parade?" he asked, sounding very much like a little kid on Christmas morning.

I peeked up at him. "I suppose I should call you General Washington now." I raised an eyebrow at him.

His emerald eyes sparkled. "That would be Major Baldwin to you."

I pushed my hands against his chest as I laughed. I turned my back on him and took a few steps away from him. "And here I was thinking we were on a first name basis," I said over my shoulder.

He caught me around my waist and I could feel his laughter through my back. I suppressed a shiver. Suddenly, something plunked down over my head, almost covering my eyes. I tried to look up at Ty but found my vision impeded by the black bill of a hat—one of the white cadet hats. I pushed back the hat so I could look up at Ty. I pretended to scowl.

"I can't believe you just put a hat you got off of the ground on my head," I pouted.

Ty put his arm around my shoulders. "Don't worry. You definitely look cute in it."

"But it's not even yours," I whined, trying unsuccessfully to look up at him. I settled on just looking forward when the hat slipped over my eyes again.

Ty pulled me closer into his side. "Let's go, my little army girl."

--

--


End file.
